Russia will soon be ready with a "unique" new generation of nuclear weapons that is currently under development, Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Sunday. He said the upgrade was part of a modernisation of Russia's strategic arsenal in which it was aiming for quality, not quantity. "We already see, we have every reason to believe it will be a unique system, not possessed by any country in the world," Ivanov told journalists at the Munich Security Conference in Germany. "Even these systems, which I hope will quite soon come to the inventories of the armed forces, will not be aimed against any individual country," he added. "They will simply allow us to guarantee our security and sovereignty against any threat, absolutely any threat that exists ... or could arise in the future." President Vladimir Putin first spoke of the new generation of nuclear weaponry last November but gave no details. Ivanov refused to say in what respect it would be unique. "Russia was, is and will be a major nuclear power," said Ivanov, while adding that it did not need as many missiles and warheads as in Soviet times. Moscow was not looking to "frighten anyone", he said.
