Russia launches nuclear-capable ballistic missile

Russia announced on Sunday that an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering nuclear warheads had been successfully tested from one of its submarines.

The launch of the Bulava missile, Russia’s first in more than a year, comes as the country ramps up nuclear rhetoric following its withdrawal from a major nuclear test ban treaty.

In a statement, the Russian defence ministry stated, “The new nuclear-powered strategic missile submarine cruiser Emperor Alexander the Third has successfully launched the Bulava sea-based intercontinental ballistic missile”.

It claimed to have launched the undersea missile from an unidentified point in the White Sea on the country’s northwest coast to a target thousands of kilometres away on the far eastern Kamchatka peninsula.

“The missile firing took place in the normal mode from an underwater position”, the statement read.

“The missile heads arrived at the designated area at the appointed time”, the statement continued.

The Bulava missile, which is 12 metres long and has a range of about 8,000 kilometres (close to 5,000 miles), was supposed to be the backbone of Moscow’s nuclear triad.

Since launching its war on Ukraine last February, the West has accused Moscow of using dangerous nuclear rhetoric.

President Vladimir Putin signed legislation earlier this week to revoke Russia’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, a move severely condemned by the United States.

The 1996 treaty prohibits all nuclear explosions, including live nuclear weapons testing, but it never entered into force because some key countries, including the United States and China, did not ratify it.

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