Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday oversaw the first-ever test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, which he said would “two” those threatening his country in his latest nuclear saber-rattling since starting its war in Ukraine. Think again”.
Since sending Russian troops to the neighboring country in late February, Mr Putin has repeatedly raised the threat of nuclear war in an effort to prevent the US and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization from engaging in the conflict.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the test-launch was the first in the test program and analysts said it may not be deployed for use in the near future.
The ministry on Wednesday afternoon announced that it has successfully launched the RS-28 Sarmat system, a heavy intercontinental missile which the ministry said can hit targets anywhere in the world and can strike any current and future targets. The antimissile can evade the defense system.
“This truly unique weapon will force all those trying to threaten our country in the heat of frenzied, aggressive rhetoric, to think twice,” Mr Putin said in televised comments.
The Russian president, who was shown overseeing the launch by videoconference from the Kremlin, said the Sarmat missile was built using only domestic components. US sanctions have targeted companies making parts for the Russian military.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sarmat was launched Wednesday from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the northern Arkhangelsk region and struck a target on the Kamchatka peninsula, about 3,500 miles to the east.
The test-launch was long expected since Mr Putin first announced that Russia had developed the missile in 2018, but the launch has been delayed several times. A senior US defense official said Moscow went through arms control procedures to notify Washington prior to the flight test.
As the Russian military faces fierce resistance from Ukrainian forces over the enforcement of Western weapons, concerns have risen in the West that Russia may be considering using a so-called strategic nuclear weapon to turn the tide in its favor. could.
Several days before the invasion, Mr Putin led Russia’s strategic forces exercise, launching some of the country’s most state-of-the-art missiles. The Sarmat missile was expected to be launched in that training.
At the start of the war, Mr Putin warned that if the West intervened there would be “results you’ve never seen in history”.
Dmitry Stefanovich, a research fellow at Moscow-based IMEMO, said, “The Russian leadership’s rhetoric in the nuclear field has one main goal: to constantly send a reminder that there can be no military solution to Russia’s problem and that even Nothing can be tried.” RAS Think Tank
He said the message has been received in western capitals.
Stefanovich said: “All the comments from Brussels and Washington explicitly blame Russia for escalation, but they underscore each time that there is a need to go straight into armed conflict between the US and Russia, NATO and Russia.” He’s not interested.”
Nikolai Sokov, a senior fellow at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, said Sarmat’s launch was expected, but Russia could have delayed it to avoid escalating tensions, such as how the US deferred its routine testing. Airforce Minuteman III missile last month.
Instead, the Russians used the launch “as a good reminder to say: ‘We have nuclear weapons, so you sit quietly,'” Mr. Sokov said. “The rocket was ready and they gave it some milk.”