Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Sunday that his country had conducted a recent successful test of a nuclear-propelled cruise missile, praising a “unique” weapon with a range of 14,000 kilometers.
During a meeting with military leaders, in a video published by the Kremlin, Putin said that “the final tests have been completed” of the Burevestnik missile (Storm Bird in Russian), issuing orders to “prepare the infrastructure to put this weapon into service with the Russian Armed Forces,” indicating that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to put this missile on combat alert.
Putin said that nuclear-powered cruise missiles are “a unique product, unparalleled anywhere else in the world,” and that the missile is “a unique innovation that no one else has in the world,” stressing that the missile has “unlimited range.”
He added during a meeting with the leadership of the Joint Forces Group participating in the war in Ukraine: “The modernity of our armed forces, or rather our nuclear deterrence, is at its highest levels. Perhaps we are not exaggerating if we say that it is at a level higher than that of all nuclear states, at least.”
He continued: “With regard to the training of strategic offensive forces, we reaffirmed the reliability of the Russian nuclear shield. The strategic forces are fully capable of ensuring Russian national security.”
For his part, Russian Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov said that in its last test conducted on October 21, the missile spent about 15 hours in the air, during which it traveled 14,000 km, stressing that this distance “is not its maximum limit.”
He stressed that “Burevestnik’s technical specifications allow it to be used with guaranteed accuracy against highly protected sites at any distance.”
Putin announced in 2018 that the Russian army was developing such missiles that are capable – in his words – of bypassing practically all interception systems.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced earlier today that Putin visited one of the command centers of the Joint Forces Group.
Peskov said: “The President held a meeting with the Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and the leaders of the groups participating in the special military operation in Ukraine. They all submitted detailed reports to the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces about the situation along the contact line.
