MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday proposed a missile duel with the United States that would show how Russia's new Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile could defeat any U.S. missile defense system.
Responding to Western skepticism about the Oreshnik, Putin suggested that both sides choose a designated target that would be protected by US missiles.
“We are ready for such an experiment,” Putin said.
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Putin also said that Oreshnik was a modern weapon, although it is based on previous Russian design developments.
Russia first fired the Oreshnik missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on November 21, in response to Ukraine's first use of US ATACM's ballistic missiles and British Storm Shadows to attack Russian territory with Western authorization.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Maxim Rodionov; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
