MOSCOW: In a significant and potentially unsettling announcement, President Vladimir Putin revealed that Russia had conducted a successful test of a potent new strategic missile.
During a gathering of analysts and journalists, Putin also left open the possibility of future weapons tests that could involve nuclear explosions, marking a departure from Russia’s practice for over three decades.
Putin disclosed that Moscow had achieved a successful test of the Burevestnik, a nuclear-powered and nuclear-capable cruise missile designed with an impressive potential range spanning thousands of miles.
Additionally, he announced that Russia was nearing the completion of its Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile system, a crucial component of the country’s new generation of nuclear weaponry.
This revelation comes against the backdrop of Putin repeatedly emphasizing Russia’s nuclear capabilities since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Putin maintained that no rational actor would contemplate using nuclear weapons against Russia, given the catastrophic consequences.
In the event of any such attack, Putin warned that Russia possessed an overwhelming number of missiles, numbering in the hundreds, ready to launch. This would leave any potential adversary with no chance of survival.
Russia has refrained from conducting tests involving nuclear explosions since 1990, just before the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, Putin did not rule out the possibility of resuming such tests. He noted that the United States had not ratified the treaty prohibiting nuclear tests, while Russia had both signed and ratified it. Therefore, it remained theoretically possible for Russia’s parliament, the Duma, to revoke its ratification.
Military analysts have expressed grave concerns about the potential resumption of nuclear testing by Russia or the United States, particularly given the heightened tensions between the two countries, which have reached levels not seen in six decades. In February, Putin suspended Russia’s participation in the New START treaty, which limits the number of nuclear weapons each side can deploy.
Despite these developments, Putin stated that there was no need for Russia to revise its doctrine regarding the actual use of nuclear weapons. The doctrine maintains that Russia may employ nuclear weapons either in response to a nuclear attack or when facing an existential threat to the state.
In response to a question about lowering the threshold for nuclear use, posed by Russian analyst Sergei Karaganov, Putin expressed his reluctance to do so. He asserted that there was currently no situation that threatened Russian statehood or the country’s existence, making the use of nuclear weapons unnecessary.
Karaganov’s advocacy for lowering the nuclear use threshold as a means of deterring adversaries has sparked debate among Russian and Western strategic analysts. The issue of nuclear capabilities and their role in international security remains a topic of global concern.
