MOSCOW, February 20 -- Russia's President Vladimir Putin warned the United States against deploying new missiles in Europe, threatening to retaliate in kind by targeting Western capitals with his own new weaponry. Delivering a state of the nation address, Putin said the US abandoned a key arms control pact - the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty - to free its hands to build new missiles and tried to shift the blame for the move on Russia. "I'm saying this clearly and openly - Russia will be forced to create and deploy new types of weapons that could be used not only against the territories where a direct threat to us comes from, but also against the territories where decision-making centres directing the use of missile systems threatening us are located," Putin said. "The capability of such weapons, including the time to reach those centres, will be equivalent to the threats against Russia." He did not say what specific new weapons Moscow could deploy, but he reported quick progress on an array of new systems presented a year ago. New arms Putin said the first batch of Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles will be deployed this year. He added the tests of the new Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile, the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile and the Poseidon nuclear-powered underwater drone have been progressing successfully. The first submarine equipped to carry the Poseidon will be commissioned later this year, Putin reported. He also announced the coming deployment of the new Zircon hypersonic missile for the Russian navy, saying it's capable of flying at nine times the speed of sound and will have a range of 1,000km. He said the Zircon programme will not be too costly as the missile has been designed to equip Russia's existing surface ships and submarines. While issuing a tough warning to the US, Putin also said Russia still wants friendly relations with Washington and remains open to arms control talks. "We don't want confrontation, particularly with such a global power as the US," he said. The US has accused Russia of breaching the INF treaty by deploying a cruise missile that violates its limits - accusations Moscow rejected. The INF treaty banned production, testing and deployment of land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of 500km to 5,500km. The intermediate-range weapons were seen as particularly destabilising as they take shorter time to reach their targets compared to the intercontinental ballistic missiles. That would leave practically no time for decision-makers, raising the likelihood of a global nuclear conflict over a false launch warning.
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