Russia on Tuesday test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile as part of efforts to modernise the country’s nuclear forces, a launch hailed by President Vladimir Putin just days after his claim that the fighting in Ukraine is nearing an end.
Putin said that the nuclear-armed Sarmat missile would enter combat service at the end of the year. It was built to replace the aging Soviet-built Voyevoda.
“This is the most powerful missile in the world,” Putin declared, adding that the combined power of the Sarmat’s individually targeted warheads is more than four times higher than that of any Western counterpart. These claims could not be independently verified.
The Russian leader has repeatedly brandished the nuclear sword after sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022 to try to deter the West from ramping up support for Ukraine.
What is the state of Russia’s nuclear arsenal?
After overseeing a military parade on Red Square on Saturday commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, which for the first time in nearly two decades didn’t include heavy weapons, Putin declared the conflict in Ukraine is coming to an end.
Since coming to power in 2000, Putin has overseen efforts to upgrade the Soviet-built components of the Russian nuclear triad — deploying hundreds of new, land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, commissioning new nuclear submarines and modernising nuclear-capable bombers.
Russia’s effort to revamp its nuclear forces pushed the United States to launch a costly modernisation of its arsenal.
The last remaining nuclear arms pact between Russia and the U.S. expired in February, leaving no caps on the world’s two largest atomic arsenals for the first time in more than a half-century and fueling fears of an unconstrained nuclear arms race.
What is the ‘Satan II’ missile?
The Sarmat — designated “Satan II” in the West — is meant to replace about 40 Soviet-built Voyevoda missiles. Its development began in 2011 and before Tuesday, the missile had only one known successful test and reportedly suffered a massive explosion during an abortive test in 2024.
Putin said Tuesday that the Sarmat — part of a slew of new weapons that Putin revealed in 2018, claiming they would render any prospective U.S. missile defenses useless — is as powerful as the Voyevoda but with a higher precision. It is capable of suborbital flight, he said, giving it a range of more than 35,000 kilometers (21,700 miles) and an extended capability to penetrate any prospective missile defenses.
If true, this would put it within the range of countries as far away as Brazil or Argentina.
Moscow’s new weapons include the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle, capable of flying 27 times faster than the speed of sound. The first vehicles have already entered service.
What other ballistic missiles does Russia have?
Russia has also commissioned the new nuclear-capable Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile, and used its conventionally-armed version twice to strike Ukraine.
Oreshnik’s range of up to 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles) makes it capable of reaching any target in Europe.
Putin also announced Russia was in the “final stages” of the development of the nuclear-armed Poseidon underwater drone and the Burevestnik cruise missile powered by miniature atomic reactors.
The Poseidon is designed to explode near enemy coastlines and cause a radioactive tsunami. The Burevestnik has virtually unlimited range thanks to nuclear propulsion, allowing it to loiter for days, circling air defenses and attacking from an unexpected direction.
Putin has described those new weapons as part of a Russian response to the U.S. missile shield that Washington developed after its 2001 withdrawal from a Cold War-era U.S.-Soviet pact that limited missile defenses.
Russian military planners have feared a missile shield could tempt Washington to launch a first strike that would knock out most of Moscow’s nuclear arsenal in hopes of intercepting a small number of surviving missiles fired in retaliation.
“We were forced to consider ensuring our strategic security in the face of the new reality and the need to maintain a strategic balance of power and parity,” Putin said.
