Even as the world grapples with new geopolitical realities amid Vladimir Putin’s nuclear warning to the West, new reports have emerged that show that Moscow remains defiant as ever. It is believed that Moscow had unsuccessfully tested the intercontinental ballistic missile SARMAT while US President Joe Biden was visiting war-ravaged Ukraine earlier this week. A CNN report quoting senior officials says that Russia had indeed notified the US administration about the ICBM launch. However, Washington didn’t view the missile test as any kind of dangerous maneuvering.
Now, a new video has emerged that shows Putin making the announcement of SARMAT deployment by the end of this year. The Kremlin had released the video to mark the ‘Defender of the Fatherland Day’. The deployment comes ahead of the anniversary of the ‘War in Ukraine’ Many see this as a fresh escalation on part of Putin.
Nicknamed SATAN II by the West, this ICBM missile is capable of delivering multiple nuclear warheads to the designated target. First revealed to the world in 2016, SARMAT has a range of 11,000 km and can carry warheads weighing 100 tons. It was seen as the successor of the R-36M Voevoda missile, the CNN report said.
This is not the first time that Russia has tested an ICBM missile. Last year also, similar tests were conducted. At that time, Western officials had termed it as nothing but sabre-rattling of Moscow.
In case the test was successful, Putin would have mentioned it in his critical state of the nation speech. But the SATAN II didn’t find any place in that speech. What poses more challenging times for the global players is Russia suspending the START treaty. It was this treaty that obligated Moscow to inform Washington about the missile test in advance via the ‘deconfliction lines’. Now that Russia has suspended the treaty, there seems to be absolutely no way to regulate the global nuclear power game. On the ground, the situation remains tense in Kyiv. While the US and other nations have committed to help Ukraine, new Russian actions are adding to the chaos. The CNN report said that last week, Russian combat jets flew very close to Alaska. This had forced the NORAD to scramble fighter planes.