Diplomat Calls Russia Must Increase Its Missile Arming Because It Is In The Open Confrontation Stage

Illustration of Russian ballistic missiles. (Wikimedia Commons/Aleksey Toritsyn)

JAKARTA - Russia must upgrade its entire missile arsenal to deter the West, as Moscow is now in an open confrontation with the United States and its allies, a Russian diplomat said Monday.

President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 sparked the worst damage to relations between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, according to Russian and US diplomats.

"We are now in the open confrontation stage, which I hope will not result in a direct armed conflict," Russian Ambassador Grigory Mashkov told state news agency RIA.

Therefore, continued Ambassador Mashkov, it is necessary to take "further steps to strengthen the country's defense capabilities, including building missile weapons, to prevent potential enemies from testing Russian forces."

Ambassador Mashkov said Russia had done a lot in this area, but further effort was still needed considering what he said was increasing threats from the West and technological advances in most types of missiles, ranging from tactical missiles to intercontinental missiles.

Russia has increased weapons production and is now expected by the United States to produce more artillery this year than a combined of all 32 NATO members.

Meanwhile, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Russia will spend 7.1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on the military, or more than a third of the total government spending, by 2024.