'Most powerful': Putin boasts about nuclear-capable missile
Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed what he called the world's most powerful missile system - dubbed "Satan II" by NATO - will be ready for "combat duty" by the end of the year.
The Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile has an expected range of more than 10,000km and can reportedly carry up to 16 independently targeted nuclear warheads, according to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, a US-based organisation. Putin claims the range extends to more than 35,000km.
"The combined yield of the payload is more than four times greater than that of any existing Western counterpart," Putin said.
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The Russian military says it held a test launch of the Sarmat intercontinental missile system on Tuesday, May 12. (Photo: Russian Defence Ministry/Reuters) CNN
By comparison, the United States' LGM-30 Minuteman ICBM has a range of about 11,000km and is deployed with only one warhead, though it was designed to carry three.
Russian state television broadcast footage of Sergei Karakayev, commander of Russia's Strategic Missile Forces, reporting to Putin on what he described as a "successful" test launch on Tuesday.
After a failed test in September 2024, satellite images showed a crater about 200 feet wide at the launch site at Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the north-western Arkhangelsk region in Russia.
The Sarmat missile is liquid-fuelled, reports say, meaning it has to be fuelled shortly before launching, a disadvantage compared with solid-fueled missiles.
Russia maintains the world's largest inventory of nuclear warheads, with more than 5500, according to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. The US has just over 5000 warheads, the organisation says.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed the Sarmat missile is the world's most powerful long range weapon. (Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) AP
The timing of the Sarmat test is noteworthy, coming shortly after a muted Victory Day Parade on May 9.
The parade which commemorates the Soviet Union's role in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II, was the most scaled down since 2008, when Putin made it an annual event.
No military hardware was displayed for the first time in nearly 20 years. Russian authorities pared down the event amid security concerns following Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russian territory, especially on oil refineries.
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