President Putin Says Russia Holds Nuclear-capable Poseidon Torpedo Trial

Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Source: Kremlin)

JAKARTA - President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday Russia had successfully tested the Poseidon super-powered nuclear torpedo which military analysts said was capable of destroying coastal areas by triggering large radioactive sea waves.

There are few confirmed details about the Poseidon, but basically these torpedoes are a combination of torpedoes and nuclear-capable drones.

President Putin, while enjoying tea and cakes at a hospital in Moscow with Russian soldiers injured in the Ukraine war, said the trial had taken place on Tuesday.

"For the first time, we managed not only to launch it with launch engines from carrier submarines, but also to launch a nuclear power unit that this device has been using for some time," President Putin said.

"Nothing like this," he said, adding there was no way to intercept the Poseidon, which analysts said had a range of 10,000 km (6,200 miles) and could travel at a speed of about 185 km per hour.

As US President Donald Trump tightened his rhetoric and attitude towards Russia, President Putin publicly showcased his nuclear power with a new Burevestnik cruise missile test on October 21 and a nuclear launch exercise on October 22.

The Burevestnik and Poseidon trials are meant to send a clear message that Russia, according to President Putin, will never bow to Western pressure related to war in Ukraine.

For President Trump, who calls Russia a "paper tiger" for failing to quickly conquer Ukraine, his message is that Russia remains a global military competitor, especially in terms of nuclear weapons, and that Moscow's approach to nuclear arms control must be followed up.

The Poseidon are new weapons emerging amid what President Putin describes as a global arms race - especially between the United States, Russia and China - to modernize and develop their nuclear arsenal.

The Poseidon, known in NATO as the Kanyon, has a length of 20 meters, a diameter of 1.8 meters, and a weight of 100 tons, according to Russian media.

Gun control experts say the weapon violated most of the traditional nuclear prevention and classification rules. They estimate the weapon will carry a two megaton warhead and may be powered by a liquid metal-cooled reactor.

President Putin said the Poseidon force surpassed "even our most promising Sarmat intercontinental missile", known as SS-X-29, or Satan II.

Since first announcing the Poseidon and Burevestnik in 2018, President Putin has described it as a response to US moves to build missile defense shields after Washington in 2001 unilaterally withdrew from the 1972 Anti-Balistic Missile Agreement and the expansion of NATO's eastern region.

After Russia's Burevestnik test, President Trump said President Putin should end the war in Ukraine instead of testing nuclear-powered missiles.