The Russian military will cut some of its weapons programs if the United States drops its missile defence plans, a senior Russian general said Friday.
The Interfax news agency is quoting Col.-Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov as saying the Russian armed forces wouldn't need some of its prospective strategic weapons if the new U.S. administration changes its mind about deploying missile defence sites in Europe.
"Several expensive programs will simply become unnecessary for us," said Solovtsov, who is the chief of Russia's Strategic Missile Forces.
Russia has fiercely opposed the proposed U.S. anti-missile system, which would include 10 missile silos in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic to help detect and shoot down ballistic missiles.
Russia has argued the system threatens Russia's national security and has previously said it would deploy short-range missiles in the Baltic Sea region in response to the plans.
Solovtsov didn't elaborate on Russia's plans on Friday.
Other Russian officials have also previously boasted about prospective new warheads capable of making sharp manoeuvres to dodge missile defence systems.
