On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin weighed in on all of the latest talk about the world’s nuclear weapons and his previous statements about Russia’s military being “stronger than any potential aggressor.” In front of reporters at his annual news conference in Moscow, Putin said that “nobody is arguing with” the fact that the U.S. military is “the most powerful in the world.”
On Thursday, Vladimir Putin spoke to his defense ministry and praised them for their hard work. He reassured the group that Russia was militarily strong and was “stronger than any potential aggressor.”
In response to Putin’s claim, State Department Spokesman John Kirby told reporters during a Press briefing that “America has every right to be proud of the men and women that are wearing the uniform and protecting their interests around the world and their ability to do it.”
He also added that he didn’t “think in all of human history there has ever been a military as capable and as intelligent, as strong, as well-led, as well-resourced, as the United States military is today.”
Putin responded to Kirby’s comments and clarified that when he was talking about “potential aggressors” he was not talking about the United States.
“I was a bit surprised by the statements from some representatives of the current U.S. administration who for some reason started to prove that the U.S. military was the most powerful in the world,” Putin said. “Nobody is arguing with that.”
He also responded to Trump’s tweet about building America’s nuclear arsenal which came soon after Putin called for a building of Russia’s.
“In the course of his election campaign he (Trump) spoke about the necessity of strengthening the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and strengthening the armed forces. There’s nothing unusual here,” Putin said.
“If anyone is unleashing an arms race it’s not us,” Putin added. “We will never spend resources on an arms race that we can’t afford.”
On Friday, MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski reported that during a phone call with Donald Trump, the President-elect said that when it comes to building the nuclear arsenal “let it be an arms race.”
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