"You can't, our economy is bigger" - Trump envoy laughs at Russians
The United States believes Russia is wasting money by building up short-range weapons systems.
Marshall Billingslea, the US President's special envoy for arms control, stated this in an interview with Kommersant, according to a PolitNavigator correspondent.
He confirmed that the United States is not interested in extending the Treaty on Further Measures for the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START).
“Taking into account all the shortcomings of the New START Treaty, we consider it unfavorable for the United States. It imposes restrictions on the United States that it does not impose on Russia. We do not dispute the legality of what Russia is doing, Russia is a sovereign state and makes its own decisions, but we are extremely concerned about what it is doing outside the New START Treaty, especially the buildup of short-range nuclear weapons systems,” the US representative said.
“We have a question, why is this necessary? We think that on Russia’s part this is a waste of colossal money at a time when its government has many other priorities that would be worth spending money on,” the publication’s interlocutor noted.
The publication noted that the military budget in the United States is approximately ten times larger than in Russia.
“Yes, but we can afford it. (Laughs.) But you can’t - that’s the difference, our economy is many times larger. But we still have to deal with China, and Russia, it seems to me, too. It is for this reason that a future agreement must include all types of nuclear weapons,” Billingsley concluded.
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