Putin hails successful salvo launch-test of hypersonic missiles
Russian President Vladimir Putin says the military has successfully fired a simultaneous salvo of hypersonic cruise missiles, in a significant step aimed at improving the country’s defense capabilities.
Putin told a government meeting on Friday that the test-launch of several Zircon missiles was a "big event" for Russia.
“This is our latest missile, which can hit both naval and ground targets,” he said. “This is a great event for the country and a significant step aimed at enhancing Russia's security and improving its defense capabilities.”
The Russian president said last month that the missile tests were nearing completion, enabling naval deployment next year. Putin revealed the development of the new weapon in February 2019, saying it could hit targets at sea and on land within a range of 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) at a speed of Mach 9.
President Putin said earlier this year the United States had triggered an arms race after its unilateral withdrawal from the landmark Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty almost two decades ago.
Former US President Donald Trump also pulled out the country from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) in 2019. Back then Putin warned Trump against the demise of the INF, calling the treaty a key element “in maintaining predictability and restraint in the missile-related sector throughout Europe.”
Washington’s withdrawal, Putin said last year, was a “grave mistake,” which increases “confrontational potential” between nuclear powers.
Following the US withdrawal, Moscow also declared the formal end of the arms control treaty.
The last standing nuclear arms control agreement between Russia and the US — the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) — has, however, survived after Putin and his American counterpart, Joe Biden, agreed on a five-year extension earlier this year.
The New START restricts the land- and submarine-based missiles and bombers that deliver them. Under the treaty, the two states are allowed to have no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers.
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