He said they’re four times more powerful than those in the West
The world will see the “most powerful” nuclear missile yet at the end of this year, according to Russia’s president.
Vladimir Putin, who has repeatedly raised the prospect of using nuclear weapons as a deterrent to greater Western intervention in the Ukraine war, said the country will deploy the missile at the end of 2026.
The Sarmat missile had a yield more than four times that of any Western equivalent and a range exceeding 21,750 miles (35,000km), Putin said.
In a televised address, Putin said that “it has the ability to penetrate all existing and future anti-missile defence systems”.
Russian missile force commander, Sergei Karakayev, was shown on state TV reporting to the Russian president on what he said was a successful test on Tuesday.
“The deployment of launchers equipped with the Sarmat missile system will significantly enhance the combat capabilities of the ground-based strategic nuclear forces in terms of guaranteeing the destruction of targets and solving strategic deterrence problems”, Karakayev said.
According to Western experts, the deployment comes after years of delays and setbacks, including a test launch in 2024 that left a deep crater at the launch silo.
Putin has exaggerated the capabilities of some of Russia’s new breed of nuclear weapons, which is part of a modernisation programme he started in 2018, analysts have also argued.
The possibility of using nuclear weapons was raised by Putin on multiple occasions since the start of the war in Ukraine.
According to some monitors, Russia continues to maintain the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear weapons.
Last year, the Federation of American Scientists estimated it had nearly 5,500 warheads, and just over 1,700 deployed and ready for use.
Putin now fears for his life, according to reports
Putin’s comments on the Sarmat missile come at a time when Western media, citing European intelligence reports, claimed security around the president had been tightened.
Reportedly, Putin has fears of an assassination attempt or coup and now spends weeks in bunkers.
These reports were rubbished by Russian officials and the latest video seems like an attempt to discredit these claims.
Last week, the Russian leader said that he believed the Ukraine war was coming to an end after more than four years.
Putin further claimed that “victory has always been and will be ours”, after a very scaled-back Victory Day parade.
The end to the war still seems distant, though, with meaningful negotiations which have dried up and the frontline has largely been frozen for months.
#Putin #warns #world #powerful #nuclear #missile
