Russia had successfully test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads from one of its submarines.
It is to be noted that the launch of the “Bulava” missile, the first in just over a year, comes as Russia ramps up nuclear rhetoric since revoking its ratification of a key nuclear test ban treaty.
It said it fired the under-sea missile from an undisclosed location in the White Sea on its northwest coast, to a target thousands of kilometres away on the far eastern Kamchatka peninsula.
The 12-metre-long Bulava missile was designed to be the backbone of Moscow’s nuclear triad and has a range of over 8,000 kilometres (close to 5,000 miles).
Noteworthy, President Vladimir Putin earlier this week signed a law revoking Russia’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, a move strongly criticised by the United States.
The 1996 treaty outlaws all nuclear explosions, including live tests of nuclear weapons, though it never came into force because some key countries — including the United States and China — never ratified it.
