Russia Boosts Nuclear Forces After Talks With China

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

MOSCOW/BEIJING (Worthy News) – Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Thursday that Russia would boost its nuclear weapons after withdrawing from a key nuclear treaty and deepening ties with China.

He announced the deployment of a much delayed new intercontinental ballistic missile, rolling out hypersonic missiles and adding new nuclear submarines.

Putin, who views Moscow’s ordered invasion of neighboring Ukraine as a struggle to defend Russia against “an aggressive” West, said the Sarmat silo-based intercontinental ballistic missiles would be deployed this year.

The RS-28 Sarmat liquid-fueled missile, nicknamed “Satan 2”, was first announced by Putin in 2018. The missiles were supposed to have been deployed last year.

Washington reportedly believes Russia carried out a test of the Sarmat just before U.S. President Joe Biden visited Ukraine this week but that the test failed. The Russian defense ministry declined to comment.

If successful, the 35-meter (115-foot) “Satan 2” missile has a range of 18,000 kilometers (nearly 11,200 miles). It can carry at least 10 multiple targetable re-entry vehicles – each with a nuclear warhead – which can each be aimed at a different target. It can also deliver hypersonic Avangard glide vehicles.

NUCLEAR SUBMARINE

In addition, Putin said, Russia would continue mass production of air-based hypersonic Kinzhal systems and would start mass supplies of sea-based Zircon hypersonic missiles.

“With the adoption of the Borei-A nuclear-powered submarine project ‘Emperor Alexander III’ into the navy, the share of modern weapons and equipment in the naval strategic nuclear forces will reach one hundred percent,” Putin said. “In the coming years, three more cruisers of this project will replenish the fleet’s combat strength,” he said.

The Emperor Alexander III was launched in late December. It is the seventh Borei-A class submarine – which can each carry 16 Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

Putin also said Russia would develop all parts of Russia’s conventional armed forces, improve training, add advanced equipment, bolster the arms industry, and promote soldiers who had proven themselves in battle.

Putin spoke on the Defender of the Fatherland Day after he withdrew from the New START Treaty, the last remaining nuclear arms reduction deal with the United States.

He appeared emboldened by talks ahead of Thursday’s televised speech with Wang Yi, the Chinese Communist Party’s most senior foreign policy official.

CHINA RELATIONSHIP

Their talks in Moscow came as the armed conflict in Ukraine led to the worst East-West tensions since the Cold War.

Russian President Putin praised ties between the two countries and added that the Kremlin expects Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit Russia.

Earlier Wednesday, Wang held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who noted that Russian-Chinese “ties have continued to develop dynamically.

And Lavrov stressed, “despite high turbulence in the global arena, we have shown the readiness to speak in defense of each other’s interests.”

Wang responded by underscoring Beijing’s focus on deepening ties with Russia — a relationship it has said has “no limits.”

China refused to criticize the invasion of Ukraine while echoing Moscow’s claim that the U.S. and NATO military alliance were to blame for provoking the Kremlin. Beijing also condemned the sanctions imposed on Russia after it invaded Ukraine.

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