Putin announces the deployment of hypersonic missiles and nuclear weapons

First modification: 23/02/2023 – 14:01

Nearly a year after ordering war against Ukraine, Vladimir Putin is poised to break the architecture of nuclear arms control.

The Russian president took advantage of his speech on the so-called Defender of the Fatherland Day, this February 23, to announce a series of measures that seek to boost his nuclear forces, the most powerful in the world.

Among its provisions is the deployment for this year of new Sarmat-type super-heavy intercontinental missiles, known as “Satan II.”

The 35-meter projectile has a range of 18,000 km and can carry at least 10 multi-target re-entry vehicles, each with a nuclear warhead, with the ability to target a different target. It is also designed to deliver Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles.

Likewise, the Kremlin leader assured that he will continue the mass production of air-based Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, and that he will begin the massive supply of Zircon projectiles, a type of weapon based in the sea with which Moscow intends to equip its submarines. .

Taken together, some actions with which the Kremlin aims to renew its strategic forces by land, sea and air, with an eye on the West.

“As before, we will pay more attention to strengthening the nuclear triad (…) A modern and efficient Army and Navy are a guarantee of the security and sovereignty of the country, a guarantee of its stable development and its future,” said the president. Russian president.

Biden and Putin measure forces over the war in Ukraine

If fulfilled, the Kremlin’s announcements are an increase in its full-blown war capacity.

The new threats from the man who has ruled Russia the longest come just one day after his country’s Parliament ratified the suspension of the New START treaty, a pact with the United States that limits the atomic capacity of the two parties to 1,550 nuclear warheads and a maximum of 700 missiles and long-range bombers. Both countries possess 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons.

A move that Putin justified by the alleged threats from the West to the sovereignty and security of Russian territory, as he remarked in his State of the Nation speech on Tuesday, February 21.

But with the suspension of the treaty, Moscow manages to formally dissociate itself from the mutual controls stipulated in the agreement, increases its room for maneuver and increases the risk of an eventual nuclear escalation.

Experts were already warning that it would be a blow if Putin stopped routine reporting and data sharing on nuclear weapons movements and other related developments.

The Russian leader’s new bet also seeks to pressure US President Joe Biden to back down on his support for Ukraine so that Russia can dictate the terms under which the conflict would end.

But Washington is not willing to budge. On Thursday, February 22, Biden vowed to “defend every inch” of NATO territories, words he spoke while meeting with nine leaders of the political-military alliance.

All in the midst of his visit to Warsaw and Kiev and in continuous support for the invaded nation to which this week he promised additional aid of 500 million dollars to defend itself against Russian aggression.

Also, the Western Allies’ arrangements to hand over German-made Leopard 2 main battle tanks and US-made Abrams main battle tanks to Ukrainian forces have raised the fury of the Kremlin.

Biden is tightening his alliance in Eastern Europe, a region from which Putin demanded that Washington back down.

Precisely the withdrawal of NATO troops from the nations of Central and Eastern Europe was one of the main claims of the Kremlin and with which it justified the invasion of its former ally in the former Soviet Union.

While Biden made it clear in a significant speech this week that “Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia,” Putin focused his troops’ plans on the Donbass region and not on the entire Ukrainian territory, unlike his interventions at the start of the war when he tried to take control of Kiev.

A change of approach that would confirm the moment of weakness that Moscow would go through in its “military operation” and in the midst of which it warns with its nuclear power.

With Reuters and AP