On Wednesday, the Russian army conducted an experimental launch of the RS-28 Sarmat, a high-power, very long-range ICBM. Vladimir Putin presented it as a warning to his country’s enemies. However, according to our experts, it is primarily a message to the Russian public, a week after the Moskva sank.
The Russian army tested its new RS-28 Sarmat ICBM on Wednesday. A super powerful fifth generation thermonuclear device capable of striking at very long ranges. Wrapped in a triumphant speech by Vladimir Putin and in the context of Russia’s increasing isolation against the backdrop of the war against Ukraine, this launch sounds like a threat.
However, according to observers and our experts on the set this Thursday, the advertisement for this weapon must be read primarily as a propaganda tool aimed at comforting the Russian population. And not as a warning to Russia’s enemies, Ukrainians or Westerners.
Putin fuels fears
On paper – and according to the images released by the Russian army after Wednesday’s shooting – the thermonuclear beast is enough to terrify the planet. 200 tons at the withers, with an estimated range between 6,000 and 18,000 kilometers, capable of carrying ten nuclear warheads and setting off an explosion 100 or 200 times larger than that which destroyed Hiroshima, the RS-28 claims -Sarmat as a missile with unprecedented firepower. The nickname “Satan-2”, already given to him by specialists in this field, reflects this.
Worse, according to these analysts, its range, speed and attack make it likely to take Moscow to Paris and destroy France in six minutes.
Adding to the fears the planet may have at the site of this launch amid the Russo-Ukrainian war and against the backdrop of the global geopolitical crisis, Vladimir Putin cupped his chest at customer service. . . “It is a unique weapon that will increase the military potential of our armed forces, which will protect Russia from external threats and which will make those who try to threaten our country with unbridled and aggressive rhetoric think twice,” he said on Wednesday .
It remains to be seen who is in the RS-28 Sarmat’s field of view. The context, at first glance, urges one to think of the people who have been suffering under Russia’s onslaught of Vladimir Putin for almost two months. “This is not a threat to Ukraine, it is to Westerners,” restored General Jérôme Pellistrandi, our adviser on defense issues, in our studios this Thursday.
In front of our cameras, Emmanuel Dupuy, President of the Institute for Prospective and Security in Europe, also invited us to look elsewhere: “This missile was launched straight in the direction of the United States, while the Russian President had meanwhile mentioned it at the beginning of the conflict “nuclear rhetoric”.
planned in the program
However, the first interested parties were not particularly moved by this ballistic shot. Indeed, the United States, through the voice of the Pentagon and its spokesman John Kirby, has given assurances that it was given a timely warning and in accordance with the nuclear test treaties. Furthermore, the Russian army apparently did not change their schedule when it came to conducting their experiment. It was actually planned to conduct five tests of the RS-28 Sarmat in this year 2022. This would have been just the first of a long series.
General Pellistrandi also advises keeping a cool head. “It’s a test shot, so there will be time before it goes live,” he stressed. For him, this is just another step in the already ancient and marked chronology of ICBMs in Russia. “The Russians have been developing ICBMs since 1957,” he noted.
A Response to the Moskva Trauma
More recently – in this case just a week ago – Russia also suffered a major military trauma: the sinking of its cruiser Moskva, which was torpedoed by the Ukrainians in the Black Sea. A wound of pride – beyond the human tragedy it represents – which could also explain Wednesday’s shooting.
“There we give a positive picture of a Russian army in very serious trouble in Ukraine. Because it allows us to say to public opinion: ‘You see, we have very high-tech weapons,'” continued Jérôme Pellistrandi’s assessment.
The example of North Korea
Our editor for international affairs, Patrick Sauce, also saw it as a way to avenge the affront to the Kremlin: “It’s less a message to the Western community than to the Russians: ‘We lost our ship, but we are one there week old still have strong skills. And an attempt to restore the regime’s coat of arms based on a model known in other latitudes. “It’s the same message Kim Jong-Un sends to his fellow citizens when North Korea conducts its own testing,” our journalist added.
On Wednesday, the RS-28 Sarmat took off from the Plesetsk Oblast in the Arkhangelsk Region of northwestern Russia before reaching its destination in Kura on the Kamchatka Peninsula, more than 6,000 kilometers from its launch pad. However, it is unclear if the missile served its true purpose: hitting Russian heads.
Robin Verner Journalist BFMTV