Russia’s claimed – Russia says its long-delayed RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile successfully hit a target in its Far East, with Vladimir Putin indicating it could be operationally deployed later this year—though the claim has not been independently verified.
A missile test in Russia’s far north is already being treated as a potential turning point—yet the details still hinge on trust.. The Kremlin says the long-delayed RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region on Tuesday and. about half an hour later. struck its designated target at the Kura test range on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula in the Far East.
President Vladimir Putin now says the weapon will be operationally deployed later this year. The promise comes with a familiar warning sign: Russia’s announcement has not been independently verified, and the Sarmat’s testing history has been mixed.
For years, the RS-28 Sarmat has been positioned as Russia’s next-generation answer to heavy ICBMs.. Known to NATO by the codename SS-29 Satan II. the missile is designed to deliver multiple nuclear warheads over long distances.. It is also described as a silo-launched, liquid-fueled, nuclear-armed system intended to replace the Soviet-era R-36M2 (SS-18 Satan).
Strategically, the stakes are not just that Sarmat is new, but that it is meant to be hard for defenses to stop. Reporting says the missile would carry capabilities aimed at defeating ballistic missile defense systems, though Russia has not established a strong record with the vehicle so far.
The test streak is a key reason observers are watching closely.. The first successful Sarmat launch took place in 2022, again from Plesetsk.. It was followed by a failed test launch in February 2023.. Another attempt in September 2024 also ended unsuccessfully, and it led to the destruction of the test silo at Plesetsk.
With the latest launch now claimed as successful, Putin’s timeline for operational deployment later this year raises urgent questions about how quickly Russia can move from testing to service—especially given the earlier failures and the fact that independent verification is still lacking.
Russia Sarmat RS-28 ICBM Vladimir Putin Plesetsk Cosmodrome Kura test range NATO SS-29 Satan II nuclear missile testing