President Vladimir Putin on Thursday launched what appeared to be the start of a new arms race with Washington, as he boasted of a new generation of "invincible" Russian weapons developed in response to the threat posed by the United States.
Mr Putin praised Russia's new hypersonic missiles and cutting-edge submarines during a state of the nation address that also touched on economic and social policy ahead of a presidential election this month he is widely expected to win.
The president usually delivers the annual speech in the Kremlin but this year spoke from a nearby exhibition centre - allowing him to show a series of slick video montages of missiles manoeuvring across mountains and oceans, and heading over the Atlantic.
He presented Russia's military efforts as a response to recent actions by the United States, which last month unveiled plans to revamp its nuclear arsenal and develop new low-yield atomic weapons.
The moves come as relations between the global powers plummeted to levels not seen since the Cold War over the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, and accusations that Moscow interfered in the US presidential election in 2016.
In a speech that ran to almost two hours, Mr Putin showed tests of a new missile system that he said could fly at 20 times the speed of sound and manoeuvre up and down, and is not owned by any other country.
"This makes it absolutely invincible for any forms of air and missile defence," he boasted, calling it an "ideal weapon".
