Photo: RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY VIA REUTERS / Courtesy
Russia has announced the test launch of its new intercontinental ballistic missile: the Sarmat.
Moscow assures which is the most powerful missile of its kind in the world, capable of evading current defense systems and what is more dangerous: it can carry nuclear warheads.
The rocket flew almost 6,000 kilometers from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, in the north-west of the country, to the Kamchatka peninsula, in the extreme east of Russia.
This Wednesday’s announcement comes at the height of the tension due to the invasion of Ukraine and is especially worrying in the West.
In fact, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, has assured that the missile will serve as a warning to his enemies
. “No rival”
“It will make you think about it twice who, in the midst of frenetically aggressive rhetoric, try to threaten our country”, said the president.
Putin appeared on television to highlight the qualities of the new missile which, he assures, will guarantee Russia’s security against any external threat.
“It has the highest tactical and technical characteristics and is capable of overcoming all modern means of missile defense. Does not have rival in the world and will not have it for a long time“, he stated.
Each of the Sarmat rockets could carry up to 10 or more warheads, according to the United States Congressional Research Service.
An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is considered one that is capable of hitting a target at more than 5,500 kilometres.
It is the one that covers a greater range, above those of intermediate range or IRBM (3, to 5,500 km), medium range or MRBM (1,000 to 3,000 km), short range or SRBM (300 to 1,000 km) and tactical or BRBM (less than 300 km).
Nuclear threat to Europe and the US
The greatest danger of the Sarmat is that it could become the most valuable asset in Russia’s nuclear weapons arsenal .
“It is the most powerful missile with the longest range of destruction of targets in the world, so it will significantly increase the combat power of our country’s strategic nuclear forces,” Putin assured.
Thus, if Russia deploys Sarmats at both ends of the country with atomic warheads, would place Europe and the United States within its range of nuclear attack with this new missile which, according to the Kremlin, is more difficult to intercept than other older ICBMs in its arsenal.
After invading Ukraine on 000 February, Putin referred to Russia’s nuclear power as a warning to anyone who stood in his way.
Already then he threatened the West with “consequences that it has never seen in its history”.
Days later he put Russia’s nuclear forces on high alert, something that the US and the countries of Europe observed with concern.
“The prospect of a nuclear conflict, which was previously unthinkable, is now once again within the realm of possibility”, warned the past 14 March UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
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