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Russia not to be dragged into new arms race: lawmaker

Xinhua, March 1, 2017 Adjust font size:

Russia will not to be dragged into a new arms race but it will take appropriate measures to guarantee its national security, a top lawmaker said Wednesday.

"One needs to understand that any serious increase in (defense) spending may lead to an arms race. I can say that we will not get involved in this arms race," Valentina Matviyenko, speaker of the Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.

"We will carefully analyze the events and take measures, not excessive, but sufficient for beefing up our national defense. It is the main task of the state to ensure national security," he said in a comment to Washington's plans to increase military spending.

In an address to the National Governors Association on Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington intended to introduce a "historic" increase in defense spending to rebuild its "depleted military."

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his annual year-end press conference that Russia would continue to boost its nuclear triad, a set of advanced armaments consisting of land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, strategic bombers and submarine-launched ballistic missiles, which have played a key role in maintaining the country's security. Endi