KUBINKA, Russia President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia was concerned about an anti-missile defense system near its borders, after announcing that Russia would add more than 40 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) to its nuclear arsenal this year. Tension has flared anew between Russia and Western powers over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis, in which pro-Russian separatist forces have seized a large part of the country's east after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in early 2014. Image copyright Reuters 
 
 Russia nuclear arsenal 
 
 Military stockpile of approximately 4,500 nuclear warheads 
 
 These include nearly 1,800 strategic warheads deployed on missiles and at bomber bases 
 
 Another 700 strategic warheads are in storage along with roughly 2,700 non-strategic warheads 
 
 A large number - perhaps 3,500 - of retired, but still largely intact warheads await dismantlement 
 
 All numbers are approximate estimates 
 
 Source: Federation of American Scientists 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Russia is in the process of modernising its military 
 
 'Arms race' 
 
 Russia has increased its defence spending substantially under Vladimir Putin, and is in the midst of a massive modernisation programme, says the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Moscow. "More than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles able to overcome even the most technically advanced anti-missile defense systems will be added to the make-up of the nuclear arsenal this year," Putin, flanked by army officers, said in a speech at an arms fair west of Moscow. The missiles are hi-tech replacements, not additions to Russia's nuclear arsenal, but the nod to the US is clear, our correspondent says. Putin has repeatedly urged Russia to maintain its nuclear deterrence to counter what he sees as growing security threats. Threats to deploy short-range nuclear weapons in Crimea have been accompanied by veiled warnings of nuclear targeting against Nato members who might host ballistic missile defences. Later on Tuesday, Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that the statement from Mr Putin was "confirming the pattern and behaviour of Russia over a period of time; we have seen Russia is investing more in defence in general and in its nuclear capability in particular". Nato has condemned the Russian announcement, saying the move amounted to "nuclear sabre-rattling" and was "unjustified" and "dangerous". Russian officials warned on Monday that Moscow would retaliate if the United States carried out its plan to store heavy military equipment in eastern Europe, including in the Baltic states that were once in the Soviet Union. "The feeling is that our colleagues from NATO countries are pushing us into an arms race," RIA news agency quoted Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov as saying during "Army 2015", a fair at which arms and other military equipment are on show.
– Vladimir Putin is being accused of "sabre-rattling," which isn't all that unusual, except in this case it involves nuclear weapons. The Russian leader said today that Moscow would add at least 40 ICBMs to its nuclear arsenal this year, reports Reuters. The announcement comes after the US said it planned to station tanks and heavy weaponry in NATO states in Eastern Europe on the Russian border. Putin boasted that the new ICBMs would be able to overcome the most advanced defense systems, reports the BBC. "This nuclear sabre-rattling of Russia is unjustified, it's destabilizing, and it's dangerous," says NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. He says Russia's increasing aggressions, especially in Ukraine, explain why NATO is beefing up its Eastern European defenses. But Russian deputy defense chief Anatoly Antonov, citing the US plan, says "our colleagues from NATO countries are pushing us into an arms race."