Global News

Moscow — Russia is helping China build a new missile attack warning system, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Thursday. Neither Putin nor Russia’s major weapons manufacturer, which confirmed the deal on Friday, revealed any further details about the system or conditions of the agreement, or when it might be operational.

“We are currently helping our Chinese partners to create a missile attack warning system. It’s a serious thing that will drastically increase the defense capabilities of the People’s Republic of China,” Putin announced at a political conference in Sochi on Thursday.

“Right now only the U.S. and Russia have such systems,” he said.

On Friday, Sergei Boyev, director general of Vympel, Russia’s major weapons manufacturer, confirmed to Russia’s state-run media that the company was working on “modelling” the system for China. Boyev designed Russia’s missile attack warning system.

“We can’t talk in detail about it because of confidentiality agreements,” Boyev said.

Russia’s missile attack warning system was built to detect attacks on state and military command posts, and with its incorporated satellites, provides data to Moscow’s missile defense system as well as for the country’s space monitoring system.

The Kremlin decision to help China build a similar system was not unexpected, foreign affairs analyst Vladimir Frolov told CBS News, noting that it “has been quietly discussed for the past several years.”

According to Frolov, the move could be seen as a response to U.S. plans to deploy intermediate range missiles in Asia, and it is likely to lead to deeper cooperation with China on creating an integrated missile defense system. Russia is effectively creating a military alliance with China, Frolov told CBS News, thus lessening the possibility of military clashes between the two countries and raising the stakes should any other geopolitical power, including the U.S., decide to oppose either.