The pre-election rally of the Russian president (an event that, at the whim of Putin's PR people, was given the form of announcing the annual Message of the President to the Federal Assembly) will, of course, be a historic event. In the sense in which such an event was the Fulton speech of Winston Churchill. This is the actual announcement of a new "cold war". From this point of view, at least it's funny to analyze the realism of all that Putin said in the first part of his speech. All these promises of unprecedented prosperity of the economy, improvement of living standards, development of medicine and education. Nothing will happen, writes the Russian military expert, deputy editor-in-chief of the EH Alexander Golts.
Because the second half of the speech was devoted to the preparation of a military confrontation with the West, primarily with the United States. Putin told not one, but several types of developed and seemingly sent to serial production of superweapon, which surpasses all that other members of the nuclear club possess. According to him, Moscow is creating a new heavy missile "Sarmat", which generally has no limitations on the range of flight: it can reach the goal (obviously, the US territory) both through the North and through the South Pole. But this 200-ton rocket, capable of delivering a dozen of nuclear warheads to the target, is nothing compared to another top-secret novelty.
Russia, it appears, has created a cruise missile with a nuclear power plant, which again allows it to fly at any distance, change the route, use the terrain. And the hypersonic rocket "Dagger" has already been created, which flies at a speed of 10 times the speed of sound over a distance of more than 2000 kilometers, while maneuvering at all stages of the flight. The complexes equipped with this missile, Putin said, have already begun to pilot-combat duty in the Southern Military District. Russia also has other hypersonic cruise missiles, the Avangard, which, as the president enthusiastically told, is flying in a kind of "cocoon" from the plasma.
In addition, according to Putin, tests of unmanned underwater vehicles equipped again with unprecedented nuclear power plants that are hundreds of times greater than those installed on operating submarines. And these underwater drones, capable of carrying super-powerful nuclear munitions, can destroy both carrier-based groups and infrastructure on the coast of the "potential enemy". And there are combat lasers, such as hyperboloid engineer Putin. All this militaristic fantasy was accompanied by cartoons (learned from Kim Jong-un) in which missiles from different ends fly clearly to where. The audience was in indescribable ecstasy. I suspect that the television channels will sink the subordinate population in the same enthusiasm, to which the Supreme Commander-in-Chief proposed to come up with names for our superweapon.
It's unlikely that those who are in a militaristic boom have asked themselves a simple question: why did Putin in the first part of his speech talk about the danger of a technological backwardness of Russia if the country has already made several unprecedented technological breakthroughs? In particular, it created an atomic power plant for an aircraft. One can live on this for the next twenty years, releasing as much as necessary for medicine and education ... One way or another, it is understandable: the main goal of the pre-election Putin's Message was to disperse a new wave of militaristic enthusiasm (we can all destroy) and thereby close all unpleasant questions and about Russian misery, and the rout of the mercenary column in Syria, made by the Americans. It is possible that Putin's escapades are compensation for the Syrian shame. It is likely that this is now such a manner of foreign policy - fall in love with me, or else I'll give it to the muzzle. If so, Mr. Lavrov, along with all his employees, it's time to go over to the submission of Army General Shoigu. No wonder that Vladimir Putin promised the Western "partners" to inform them about the new military capabilities of Russia. A great lesson for Russian diplomats is to engage in intimidation.
As for the actual side of the matter, there are some grounds for doubting the victorious Putin's statements. For example, it is known that the creation of "Sarmat" faces certain difficulties. In the open information there were only reports of so-called "throw" tests of the rocket - that is tests of the ability to push the rocket out of the mine. If we bear in mind that Moscow and Washington should exchange information about launches, then the Americans would hardly miss the launch of Sarmat. So, soon enough, if not we, then high-ranking people in Washington will know exactly how Putin's statements correspond to reality. Nothing is known about cruise missiles with nuclear power plants. And we need to figure out whether the craftsmen from Shoigu's department borrowed the idea of ??one of the computer games that with the military propagandists happens.
Several years ago, from one of Putin's meetings with the military, information about the development of Status-6. In the frames demonstrated by several federal television channels, a drawing of this very underwater drones. Then the experts came to the conclusion that we are talking about a certain "weapon of the Doomsday". The UAV will be launched at the time of the nuclear attack on Russia and must destroy the western and eastern coasts of the USA. What very clearly demonstrated the way Vladimir Putin and his subordinates thought.
Putin's long explanation that the creation of this remarkable weapon is just the answer to the fact that treacherous Americans have withdrawn from the ABM Treaty 16 years ago and have since been exclusively engaged in preparing for the interception of Russian missiles have little to do with reality. American insidiousness did not prevent Russia from concluding not one but two Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties - why would the Kremlin do this if it suspected its "partners" in an attempt to achieve complete superiority? Many times serious scientists have argued that the US missile defense system in its present form is unable to intercept Russian missiles. If only because American anti-missiles are much slower than Russian strategic missiles, they just do not catch up with them.
The ABM Treaty is nothing more than a pretext for threats to the West. But the Russian boss was obviously playing.
After all, it does not matter now whether Putin is bluffing or not. Considering what is happening a serious threat, the United States will begin to develop and mass production of weapons. Moscow will be forced to respond. The consequences of the previous arms race are well known - it disorganized the USSR. In any case, it is not necessary to count on the promised growth of well-being. However, is it so necessary. After all, Russians can always catch the buzz, coming up with sonorous names for unconquerable missiles ....