OPINION:
Russian President Vladimir Putin raised eyebrows Wednesday in an interview discussion with Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and covered by RT, part of the state news apparatus.
“We must analyze everything happening on the battlefield, how the weapons operate. The Kalibrs [sea-based cruise missiles] and KH-101 [airborne cruise missile] have proved to be modern and highly effective, and now we know it for sure - precision weapons that can be equipped with both conventional and special warheads, which are nuclear,” Mr. Putin said. “Naturally, this is not necessary when fighting terrorists and, I hope, will never be needed.”
Of course, these comments were not meant for the Islamic State. They were meant for the United States and NATO in general. The Russian military has been using the Syrian expedition against ISIS to showcase and refine tactics for a new arsenal of modern weapons including cruise missiles and strategic bombers as a launch platform. Cruise missiles have been fired from ships in the Caspian Sea as well as from submarines in the Mediterranean off the Syrian coast.
Mr. Shoigu added, “We’ve been registering the missiles launches, flights and, of course, their hitting the targets. We warned our Israeli and American colleagues about these launches.”
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