Vladimir Putin announces new arms race, but fails to convince anyone

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his annual state of the union address, with almost half of his speech focusing on new armaments. Less than a third of his speech was on the state of the economy and industries.

Putin spoke of Russia’s ‘new’ armaments for over 43 minutes.

“They are unique. In time others will obtain something similar, but by then our guys will have invented something new.”

The incumbent president who is running for office described six new armaments including nuclear ones and a new ballistic missile.

Putin insisted that his detailed description of the new armaments was not a threat to the West but rather a call for negotiations.

“Nobody listened to us. Nobody wanted to conduct substantial negotiations. Listen now.”

However, Putin sounded quite belligerent.

“They failed to contain Russia! Hopefully this will help any potential aggressor sober up.”

US Department of Defense spokesperson Dana White responded:

“Americans should know that we are fully prepared.”

The American press reacted too. The Washington Post wrote that ‘Putin’s speech should be taken as a message’, and the New York Times said it was ‘in a Cold War manner’.

Reactions from Russian social media users proved to be far more skeptical though. Evidence was put forward such as one video which indicated that his address dated back to 2011, and another one to the 1980s even before the president concluded his speech.

Alexander Golts, a leading Russian military expert, believes the presidents statements need to be proved. His sources claim that both of the test trials done on the new ballistic missile have failed.