MOSCOW. May 31 (Interfax) - The tests of a U.S. long-range interceptor missile should not be viewed as a response to North Korea's recent missile launches, Russian Federation Council defense and security committee head Viktor Ozerov said.
"Those interceptors were not designed within a day or two. I believe that such work is in progress in the U.S. missile defense network in general. This is only logical. There is nothing extraordinary about that," Ozerov told Interfax on Wednesday.
"Any country conducts research and development to improve its weaponry. Naturally, the United States does not constitute an exception," he said.
This missile defense system does not upset the strategic balance, as the United States "quit the ABM Treaty a long time ago," Ozerov said.
Russia has similar systems, he said.
"Of course, it does. Our S-300 and S-400 interceptors, as well as the prospective S-500s, have been acknowledged all over the world as the best missile defense systems," he said.
As reported earlier, the U.S. successfully tested a system intercepting intercontinental ballistic missiles above the Pacific Ocean.