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| Russia Successfully Tests the RS-28 Sarmat (Satan II) ICBM |
Moscow - Russia has secretly tested the RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) or the Satan II missile capable of carrying 10 nuclear warheads. This latest trial was declared successful. This weapons test comes just days after the Kremlin insisted that the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine was impossible. Colonel General Sergey Karakaev, commander of Russia's strategic missile forces, was quoted as saying by the Telegraph, Saturday (19/11/2022), told a military conference on Friday that Russia had recently successfully tested the Sarmat missile.
President Vladimir Putin via video link watched the Satan II missile fly for the first time during tests in northern Russia in April. At the time, he said the new ballistic missile would make Russia's enemies "think twice" before threatening it. Each very large Satan II missile is capable of carrying at least 10 nuclear warheads as well as decoys and can strike targets thousands of miles away in Europe and the United States (US).
Russian defense sources praised the missile's ability to evade interception. Colonel General Karakaev also said on Friday that Russia's missile forces were ready to receive a second batch of missiles with the Avangard hypersonic launcher.
There is currently only one military unit equipped with a hypersonic weapon, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead at 20 times the speed of sound. Reports of the new missile test come just days after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed suggestions that Russia was threatening to use nuclear weapons on Ukraine.
In July, as the Kremlin's nuclear rhetoric reached a fever pitch, Putin warned that Russia would deploy the nuclear-capable Satan II missile by the end of the year. Since then he has not made such claims. Russian television propagandists have long used Satan II as a propaganda tool to threaten the West. Dmitry Kiselyov on his weekly show earlier this year said Britain was "so small that one Sarmat missile would be enough to sink it forever".
Satan II was reportedly able to reach England in three minutes. China this week said it welcomed Russia's declaration not to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Speaking after a meeting with his Russian counterpart on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that Russia had made clear its position that nuclear war was "impossible and unacceptable". "This is a rational and responsible position of Russia," Wang said.