俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京表示，他提议在美国总统唐纳德·特朗普于日本举行的最后一次会议上出售高超音速武器。

俄罗斯国家通讯社塔斯社援引普京的话说，他在今年6月大阪举行的20国集团(G20)峰会上与特朗普讨论了军备控制措施，并“提出了如何以及以何种方式将俄罗斯现代武器(包括高超音速导弹系统)纳入共同协议的问题，因为迄今为止，世界上没有一个国家拥有这些武器，甚至连美国也没有”。

“我对唐纳德说:‘如果你愿意，我们可以卖给你一些，这样我们就能平衡一切。但是说实话，他们说他们很快就会自己生产出来，”普京说。

“也许他们会，但为什么我们已经花了一些钱，可以拿回一些东西，同时又不损害我们的安全，而是创造一个平衡的局面，”他补充说。

普京在去年3月的国情咨文中首次公开了他的国家未来的先进武器库。其中包括RS-28 Sarmat洲际弹道导弹和伴随的Avangard高超音速滑翔飞行器——据说能够以比音速快20倍的速度运载Sarmat——以及金扎尔空中发射的高超音速巡航导弹、9M730 Burevestnik核动力巡航导弹、波塞冬核动力水下无人驾驶飞机和佩雷斯维特战斗激光系统。

在今年2月的后续讲话中，普京宣布在测试这些武器方面取得了一些进展，并证实了他正在测试另一种高超音速武器的报道:3M22齐尔康潜艇发射巡航导弹。像他正在发展的军火库中的其他最先进的工具一样，普京认为这些武器在当前甚至未来的防御系统面前是不可战胜的。

尽管美国对俄罗斯表示了一些怀疑声称取得进展特朗普政府对其相对于长期对手的军事优势差距日益缩小表示担忧。今年早些时候，特朗普宣布了一项计划，将天基拦截器作为“随时随地探测并摧毁任何针对美国发射的导弹”的全球防御体系的一部分

然而，普京一直将这一概念作为推进自身进攻能力的动机，尤其是自2002年美国退出《反弹道导弹条约》以来。上个月，华盛顿退出了另一项冷战时期的协议，中程核力量条约。几周后，美国军方测试了一枚巡航导弹，该导弹将被该条约禁止，该条约限制了310至3420英里范围内的地面发射武器。

华盛顿指责莫斯科发展另一种武器系统——诺瓦克9M729巡航导弹，违反了中程核力量条约，但俄罗斯官员否认了这一点，并声称他们的美国同行违反了该条约，部署了使用马克41垂直发射系统的防御系统，该系统与用来发射战斧巡航导弹的平台相同。五角大楼发言人确认到新闻周刊上个月的中程巡航导弹测试使用了马克41和战斧变体。

美国官员辩称，作为北约西方军事联盟在罗马尼亚和波兰的宙斯盾登陆系统的一部分部署的发射器无法发动进攻。然而，国防部长马克·埃斯珀对发展这种能力表示了兴趣，这种能力曾在欧洲和亚洲的中程核力量下被禁止。

中国不是双边中程核力量的一方，也批评了美国在太平洋地区不断扩大的军事基础设施。

迄今为止，普京已经宣布自行暂停部署破坏中程核力量的武器，只要美国也不部署此类武器。在周四的活动中，他重申了这一点，但指出俄罗斯将开始开发此类武器以应对美国的试验。

“我们直截了当地说，在美国人试验了这种导弹后，我们不会部署任何东西。俄罗斯领导人说:“当然，我们会制造这种导弹，但我们不会在美国制造的这种类型的地面导弹系统还没有出现的地区部署。”他对美国在韩国和日本新的地面系统的前景表示“遗憾”和“一定的担忧”。
 

RUSSIA'S PUTIN OFFERED TRUMP HYPERSONIC WEAPONS: 'I TOLD DONALD, WE CAN SELL YOU SOME'

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he offered to sell United States President Donald Trump hypersonic weapons during their last meeting in Japan.

Speaking at the plenary session of the fifth Eastern Economic Forum in the Primorsky Krai region, Putin said he discussed arms control measures with Trump in June during the G20 summit in Osaka and "the issue was raised as to how and in what way it would be possible to count Russian modern weapons, including the hypersonic missile systems, into the common agreements, considering that so far not a single country in the world possesses these weapons, not even the U.S.," as quoted by the state-run Tass Russian News Agency.

"I told Donald the following: 'If you want, we can sell you some and this way we will balance everything out. But truth be told, they are saying that they will soon produce it themselves," Putin remarked.

"Perhaps they will, but why waste money when we already have spent some and can get something back, and at the same time not harm our security but rather create a situation where there is a balance," he added.

Putin first unveiled his country's up-and-coming arsenal of advanced weapons during his State of the Nation address in March last year. These include the RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile and the accompanying Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle – said to be capable of carrying the Sarmat at speeds up to 20 times faster than the speed of sound – as well as the Kinzhal air-launched hypersonic cruise missile, the 9M730 Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile, the Poseidon nuclear-powered underwater drone and the Peresvet combat laser system.

During his follow-up speech in February, Putin announced some progress in testing these weapons and confirmed reports that he was testing yet another hypersonic weapon: the 3M22 Tsirkon submarine-launched cruise missile. Like the other state-of-the-art tools in his developing arsenal, Putin has labeled these weapons invincible in the face of current or even prospective defense systems.

Though the U.S. has expressed some skepticism as to Russia's claims of progress, the Trump administration has shown concern around the narrowing gap in its military superiority against its perennial rival. Earlier this year, Trump announced a plan to include space-based interceptors as part of a global shield that would "detect and destroy any missile launched against the United States anywhere, anytime."

Such a concept, however, has been cited by Putin as his motive for moving forward with his own offensive capabilities, especially since the U.S. withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) in 2002. Last month, Washington pulled out of another Cold War-era deal, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Weeks later, the U.S. military tested a cruise missile that would have been banned by the pact, which restricted land-launched weapons with ranges from 310 to 3,420 miles.

Washington had accused Moscow of violating the INF by developing another weapons system, the Novator 9M729 cruise missile, but Russian officials denied this and claimed that their U.S. counterparts had broken the treaty by deploying defense systems utilizing the Mark 41 Vertical Launching System, the same platform used to fire Tomahawk cruise missiles. A Pentagon spokesperson confirmed to Newsweek that last month's mid-range cruise missile test utilized the Mark 41 and a Tomahawk variant.

U.S. officials have argued that the launchers deployed as part of NATO Western military alliance's Aegis Ashore system in Romania and Poland were not capable of offensive operations. Defense Secretary Mark Esper has expressed interest, however, in developing such capabilities, once disallowed under the INF in Europe as well as in Asia.

China, which was not a party to the bilateral INF, has also criticized an expanding U.S. military infrastructure in the Pacific region.

Putin has so far declared a self-imposed moratorium on deploying INF-busting weapons as long as the U.S. did not field such weapons either. At Thursday's event, he reaffirmed this, but noted that Russia would begin developing such weapons in response to the U.S. test.

"We said outright that we would not deploy anything after the Americans tested such a missile. We will make such missiles, of course, but we will not deploy them in the regions where no ground-based missile systems of this class of U.S. manufacture have emerged," the Russian leader said, expressing "regret" and "certain alarm" over the prospect of new U.S. ground-based systems in South Korea and Japan, as quoted by Tass.