The Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile is launched during a test at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Arkhangelsk Region, Russia, in this still image from video released April 20, 2022. Russian Defense Ministry/via REUTERS
LONDON – Russia said on Wednesday it had conducted a first test launch of its Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, a new addition to its nuclear arsenal that President Vladimir Putin said would give Moscow’s enemies pause.
Putin was shown on television being told by the military that the missile had been launched from Plesetsk in the north-west of the country and hit targets in the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Far East.
The Sarmat has been in development for years and so its test launch comes as no surprise to the West, but it comes at a moment of extreme geopolitical tension due to Russia’s eight-week war in Ukraine.
“The new complex has the highest tactical and technical characteristics and is capable of overcoming all modern means of missile defense. He has no analogues in the world and will not do so for a long time,” Putin said.
“This truly unique weapon will increase the combat potential of our armed forces, reliably ensure Russia’s security from external threats and give food for thought to those who, in the heat of frenzied aggressive rhetoric, try to threaten our country.”
The Sarmat is a new heavy intercontinental ballistic missile that Russia is expected to deploy with 10 or more warheads on each missile, according to the US Congressional Research Service.
At the launch of the February 24 invasion, Putin made a specific reference to Russia’s nuclear forces, warning the West that any attempt to stand in their way “will lead to consequences such as you have never faced in your history.” .
Days later, he ordered the Russian nuclear forces to be placed on high alert, sparking concern in the West.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on March 14: “The prospect of nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, is now again within the realm of possibility.”
In a statement, Russia’s Defense Ministry said the Sarmat was fired from a silo launcher at 15:12 Moscow time (1212 GMT) and the training warheads reached a test range on Kamchatka in the Pacific, a distance of nearly 6,000 km (3,700 miles).
“Sarmat is the most powerful and longest-range target-destroying missile in the world, which will significantly increase the combat capability of our country’s strategic nuclear forces,” it said.
Reporting by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Howard Goller, William Maclean