On March 1st, Russia’s President Putin delivered his annual address to the Federal Assembly. In what was a 2 hour long presentation, inclusive of internal matters and economic issues, the US media picked up on a segment in which he unveiled a number of new Russian technologies in the nuclear sphere. He made it precisely clear, that the weapons were developed in response to the US unilateral withdrawal from the ABM Treaty 1972, which allowed it to place their “missile defense” systems in Europe, and new systems are due to be placed in Asia – thereby completely surrounding Russia from all sides.
Shortly after, US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert refused to discuss questions with Russian journalists present at the US State Department media briefing. In response, Russia’s equivalent, Maria Zakharova, promised to segregate US journalists in Russia into “special seats”, accusing the US State Department of a racist and outdated mentality.
Furthermore, the US media and State Department entirely distorted the message of President Putin’s address – presenting is as a threat to the US, as opposed to a matter of self defense. President Putin voiced the same opinion to NBC’s Megyn Kelly – “this commentary is not done by analysts, but by propagandists” he said.
