President Putin Calls Sarmat Ballistic Missile Ready To Enter Combat Alert, Russia Considers 'Strange' New Negotiations On Arms Reduction With US

President Putin watched the test launch of the Sarmat ICBM online. (Source: Kremlin.ru)

JAKARTA - The intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) RS-28 Sarmat or the Satan II version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is ready to enter a combat alert position, according to President Vladimir Putin, while Russia considers it "strange" to negotiate arms reductions with the United States.

President Putin said at a meeting Tuesday that the first Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system would be on combat alert in Russia by the end of 2022.

"The Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile successfully carried out a test launch. The first such ICBM system is set for combat alert by the end of this year," President Putin said on the sidelines of a meeting with graduates of military higher education institutions, TASS reported on June 21.

In addition to the new weapons being tested on the battlefield, Russian troops have begun to receive advanced S-500 anti-aircraft and anti-ballistic missile defense systems that have no rival in the world, Putin stressed.

Currently, the Uzhur missile formations in the Krasnoyarsk Territory are preparing to arm the front-line regiments with advanced Sarmat ICBMs.

ICBM RS-28 Sarmat missile (YouTube screenshot/Enjamul Hoque)

Separately, the head of the Roscosmos State Space Company Dmitry Rogozin said negotiations on a new strategic arms reduction deal with the United States seemed odd amid Russia's tests of an advanced Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

"It seems strange to hear talk about the need for a new treaty with the United States, about the reduction of strategic nuclear weapons at a time when we have just tested this advanced arsenal, and are preparing to arm the first Uzhur missile regiment in the Krasnoyarsk Territory with Sarmat," Rogozin said in a post on Telegram.

The head of Roscosmos thus supported the statement of Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev who said that the initiative to thaw relations with the United States in the field of nuclear weapons treaties would be dangerous for Russia. He stressed that Russia has the most advanced deterrence instruments, Rogozin stressed.

"And this powerful weapon is the main guarantee of our peaceful life, sovereignty and independent foreign policy," said the head of Roscosmos.

"If Western countries are increasingly afraid of Russia's new strategic weapon, it is purely their fear," he said.

It is known that Russia successfully tested the launch of the Sarmat ICBM for the first time from the Plesetsk spaceport, in the Arkhangelsk Region in the north of the country on April 20. The launch confirmed all of the ICBM's designed characteristics at all stages of its flight.

The Sarmat ICBM was developed at the Makeyev State Rocket Center (part of Roscosmos) and manufactured at the Krasmash company. In expert estimates, the RS-28 Sarmat is capable of delivering MIRV warheads weighing up to 10 tons to any location around the world in both the North and South Poles.