Russia’s "security equation" can strengthen global stability — General Staff

MOSCOW, December 9. /TASS/. Russia’s "newly-proposed security equation" is capable of becoming an effective mechanism of arms control for maintaining strategic stability, the chief of the Russian armed forces’ General Staff Valery Gerasimov has said. "These days a new approach is required to devising mechanisms of arms control. Russia has proposed a new equation of security, encompassing all types of offensive and defensive weapons influencing strategic stability, as well as new spheres of confrontation, such as cyberspace, outer space and artificial intelligence," Gerasimov said at a news briefing for foreign military attaches on Thursday. He stressed that the degradation of the system of arms control was causing an adverse effect on the condition of global security. "Analysis has shown that the United States’ wish to get rid of arms development restrictions is the root cause of the collapse of the INF Treaty and Open Skies Treaty. The deployment of intermediate and shorter-range missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific Region poses a major threat to regional and global security. For this reason, our proposal for a mutual moratorium on the deployment of such missiles remains in force," Gerasimov said. He mentioned the expansion of military confrontation to outer space as another outstanding problem. "Washington is not ready to assume international commitments to prevent an arms race in space. Russia has for a number of years called on the space powers to conclude a treaty on the prevention of deployment of weapons in space. A draft of such a treaty has been submitted to the United Nations, but the United States and its allies block it. The US side states outright that it does not wish to be assume any commitments regarding outer space," Gerasimov said. Read more