Russia will deploy its new Sarmat strategic nuclear missile by the end of this year, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday, describing it as "the most powerful in the world".
The planned deployment of the missiles - designed to deliver nuclear warheads to strike targets thousands of miles away in the United States or Europe - follows years of setbacks and delays.
President Putin, in televised comments, said the warhead's explosive power was more than four times greater than any comparable Western missile and its range exceeded 35,000 km (21,750 miles).
"This missile has the ability to penetrate all existing and upcoming anti-missile defense systems," President Putin said, launching Reuters (12/5).
Meanwhile, Western security analysts say President Putin has made exaggerated claims about the capabilities of some of Russia's new generation of nuclear weapons, part of a modernization program he first announced in 2018.
Sarmat has suffered setbacks in the past - a test in September 2024 left a deep crater in the launch silo, according to Western experts.
State television showed Sergei Karakayev, commander of Russia's strategic missile forces, reporting to President Putin on what he said was a successful test launch of the Sarmat on Tuesday.
"The deployment of launchers equipped with the Sarmat missile system will significantly increase the combat capabilities of ground-based strategic nuclear forces in terms of ensuring the destruction of targets and solving strategic deterrence problems," Karakayev said.
Since the start of the Ukraine war in 2022, President Putin has repeatedly reminded the world of the size and strength of Russia's nuclear arsenal in statements seen by the West, in an effort to prevent it from intervening too strongly on Ukraine's side.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
