President Vladimir Putin said early Sunday that Russia has successfully carried out a test of its nuclear-powered intercontinental cruise missile Burevestnik.
Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov told Putin the test took place on Tuesday, with the missile flying 14,000 kilometers (8,700 miles) over the course of about 15 hours.
“The technical characteristics of the Burevestnik allow it to be used with guaranteed precision against highly protected sites located at any distance,” he said.
“It is truly a unique weapon, one that no other country in the world possesses,” Putin said during a visit to one of the command centers of the Russian joint group of forces.
He ordered the preparation of “infrastructure to put this weapon into service in the Russian armed forces.”
Confirmation of the Burevestnik tests follows satellite imagery and navigation warnings in recent months indicating an impending launch.
Putin has boasted that the “invincible” Burevestnik has an almost unlimited range and can evade American missile defenses when he unveiled it in 2018.
The Burevestnik, part of Russia's advanced weapons program which NATO designates as SSC-X-9 Skyfall, made headlines in 2019 after a failed test led to a deadly recovery mission in the Arctic.
This is a developing story.
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