from Sputnik News:
During an address on Defender of the Fatherland Day, Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to continue strengthening the country’s strategic missile systems, including the development of hypersonic weapons.
“We will pay increased attention, as before, to strengthening the nuclear triad,” Putin told an audience of World War II veterans on Thursday, referring to the country’s three methods of attacking with nuclear weapons: land-based ballistic missile, submarine-based ballistic missile, and nuclear bomber.
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According to the Russian leader, this will include placing on the first RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launchers on combat duty, pushing forward the development and production of more hypersonic missiles, and the commissioning of the Russian Navy’s latest nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine.
“This year, the first launchers of the Sarmat missile complex with a new heavy missile will enter into combat duty. We will continue the mass production of hypersonic air-to-surface Kinzhal missiles and begin mass deliveries of anti-ship hypersonic Zircon cruise missiles,” Putin said.
“The entry of [submarine] Emperor Alexander III into Russian Navy combat duty will ensure that the share of modern weapons and equipment in the naval strategic nuclear forces will reach 100%,” Putin added. “In the coming years, the fleet’s combat strength will be enhanced by three more similar ballistic missile submarines.”
Like the Emperor Alexander III, the three subs will be of the Project 955A Borei-A class (NATO reporting name Dolgorukiy): Prince Pozharskiy, Prince Potemkin, and Dmitri Donskoy.
February 23, Defender of the Fatherland Day, marks the date in 1918 when the newly formed Red Army initiated the first mass draft in response to the outbreak of civil war following the Bolshevik seizure of power the previous November. It is also the day before the first anniversary of the launching of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine in 2022.
Russia has 1,550 active nuclear warheads, in keeping with the limitations of the New START treaty signed with the United States. Earlier this week, Putin announced a suspension of Russia’s participation in the bilateral inspections part of the treaty, saying Washington had made its fulfillment impossible for the time being.
