LONDON: Russia said on Wednesday it had conducted a first test launch of its Sarmat multinational ballistic bullet, a new addition to its nuclear magazine which President Vladimir Putin said would give Moscow’s adversaries commodity to suppose about.
Putin was shown on TV being told by the service that the bullet had been launched from Plesetsk in the country’s northwest and hit targets in the Kamchatka promontory in the far east.
The Sarmat has been under development for some time and so its test- launch isn’t a surprise for the West, but it comes at a moment of extreme geopolitical pressure due to Russia’s eight-week-old war in Ukraine.
“ The new complex has the loftiest politic and specialized characteristics and is able to prostrate all ultramodern means of anti-missile defense. It has no analogs in the world and won’t have for a long time to come,” Putin said.
“ This truly unique armament will strengthen the combat eventuality of our fortified forces, reliably ensure Russia’s security from external pitfalls and give food for study for those who, in the heat of frenzied aggressive rhetoric, try to hang our country.” The Sarmat is a new heavy Intercontinental Ballistic Missile that Russia is anticipated to emplace with 10 or further warheads on each bullet, according to the US Congressional Research Service.
Launching the irruption on Feb 24, Putin made a pointed reference to Russia’s nuclear forces and advised the West that any attempt to get in its way “ will lead you to similar consequences that you have no way encountered in your history.” Days latterly, he ordered Russia’s nuclear forces to be put on high alert, raising enterprises in the West.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on March 14 “ The prospect of nuclear conflict, formerly unbelievable, is now back within the realm of possibility.” In a statement, Russia’s defense ministry said the Sarmat was fired from a silo launcher at 1512 Moscow time and the training warheads reached a test range on Kamchatka in the Pacific, a distance of nearly km ( country miles).
“ Sarmat is the most important bullet with the longest range of destruction of targets in the world, which will significantly increase the combat power of our country’s strategic nuclear forces,” it said.
