This week, Russian President Vladimir Putin touted that Moscow’s newest nuclear missile, designated “Satan-2” by NATO, may be ready for deployment by the end of the year.
On Wednesday, the Kremlin’s warlord issued the warning while addressing graduates of Russian military academies.
Putin boasted that the 14-story-tall intercontinental ballistic missiles, officially known as “RS-28 Sarmat” in Russia, have no match in the world.
“The Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile was successfully tested,” the president told the graduates in Moscow. “It is planned that by the end of this year, the first such complex will be put on combat duty.”
In April, Russia announced the first Satan-2 test launch. A month later, Dmitry Rogozin, head of Russia’s official space agency, Roscosmos, stated that the country’s arsenal would soon comprise 50 of the new missiles.
“I suggest that aggressors speak to us more politely,” Rogozin darkly remarked at the time.
Satan-2, first introduced in 2018, can carry ten or more nuclear warheads and decoys and has an estimated range of 6,200 to 11,800 miles, allowing the Kremlin to reach targets anywhere on the earth.
After Finnish President Sauli Niinisto declared his country’s wish to enter NATO in May, the Kremlin threatened to launch Satan-2 missiles against Finland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
“If Finland wants to join this bloc, then our goal is absolutely legitimate — to question the existence of this state. This is logical,” said Aleksey Zhuravlyov, deputy chairman of the Russian parliament’s defence committee?.
“If the United States threatens our state, it’s good: Here is the Sarmat [Satan-2 missile] for you, and there will be nuclear ashes from you if you think that Russia should not exist,” he ?added. “And Finland says that it is at one with the USA. Well, get in line.”
Putin stated in his address to military academy graduates that his administration is devoted to upgrading and strengthening Russia’s armed forces in the face of “potential military threats and risks.”
“Among the priority areas is equipping the troops with new weapon systems that will determine the combat effectiveness of the army and navy in the years and decades to come,” he said.
Putin also praised Russian soldiers and officers participating in a “special military operation” in Ukraine, saying they were operating “courageously, professionally, like real heroes.”