Russia announced on Sunday that it had successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads, from a 4th generation nuclear submarine.
The launch of the Bulava missile, the first in about a year, comes shortly after Russia revoked its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).
“The new strategic nuclear submarine Emperor Alexander III successfully fired the Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile” from the White Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The missile hit its target located at a testing ground on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East “on schedule,” he said.
With a range of 8,000 kilometers and 12 meters long, the Boulava (SS-NX-30 in the NATO classification) can be equipped with ten nuclear warheads.
The Emperor Alexander III submarine, of the Borei class, is equipped with 16 Bulava missiles, according to the Russian army.
Since the start of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin has blown hot and cold regarding the use of nuclear weapons, deploying tactical nuclear weapons in the summer of 2023 in Belarus, Russia’s closest ally. Moscow.
On Thursday, Mr. Putin promulgated a law revoking Russia’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, against a backdrop of conflict in Ukraine and crisis with the West.
Opened for signature in 1996 and ratified by Russia in 2000, this treaty has never entered into force, because it has so far only been ratified by too few states, among the 44 countries. which owned nuclear installations at the time of its writing.
The United States has not ratified it.
Russia, however, intends to “continue to respect the moratorium on nuclear tests”, despite this revocation, the Russian Foreign Ministry assured Friday.