A Russian parliamentary committee has said that nuclear weapons should be used in response to “hypersonic and non-nuclear strategic weapons”.
Russia’s upper house of parliament has provided a non-binding recommendation to the National Security Council to change its rules on nuclear weapons.
The current doctrine has provisions for nuclear responses if there is a “risk to statehood” but the latest recommendation calls for more precise wording.
Recommended changes to the requirements include references to hypersonic weapons which are not currently in use.
Russia and China are the two countries believed to be aggressively pursuing research in this field.
Hypersonic weapons travel at least five times faster than the speed of sound and are currently in development.
The trouble is that Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim had totally opposite views of what the joint statement was supposed to mean. Mr. Trump apparently believed that American sanctions, plus his threats (“fire and fury”) and his irresistible persona, had driven Mr. Kim to abandon his nuclear aspirations. Mr. Kim apparently believed that approaching the capacity to strike the United States had compelled Mr. Trump to agree to lift sanctions in exchange for a gradual stand-down of the North’s program.
Pyongyang now seems to have understood its error. Mr. Kim’s envoy skipped a scheduled meeting with Mr. Pompeo last week, and Mr. Trump’s special envoy for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, has yet to hold talks with his designated North Korean counterpart, Choe Son-hui, more than two months since his appointment. Recent statements from North Korea speak of resuming work on its nuclear program unless sanctions are lifted. The Trump administration continues to demand complete denuclearization before any sanctions are lifted.
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