Russia launches a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile over 6,700km amid heightened tensions with NATO and Ukraine.
MOSCOW – Web Desk: Russia has conducted a training launch of a mobile, solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, sending it more than 6,700 kilometres to the Kura test range in Russia’s Far East.
The launch came days after CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Moscow for talks with Russian intelligence officials, amid heightened tensions over the war in Ukraine and concerns about possible Russian military action involving NATO members.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said the missile was launched from the Arkhangelsk region in northwestern Russia and successfully reached its designated target area at the Kura test site on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
The ministry said the exercise was designed to verify the missile system’s tactical, technical and flight characteristics and that all assigned objectives were completed.
Missile model not disclosed
Russian authorities did not identify the specific missile system used in the latest launch.
The Moscow Times reported that the weapon was a mobile, solid-fuel ICBM and that the missile travelled more than 6,700km from Plesetsk to the Kura range. A similar launch earlier this year involved the RS-24 Yars system, but the Russian Defence Ministry has not confirmed that the Yars was used in this test.
The distinction is important because identifying the weapon as a Yars in the latest launch without official confirmation would go beyond the available evidence.
Missile capable of reaching US targets
The reported range of more than 6,700km places the tested weapon within the category of long-range strategic missiles capable of reaching targets across continents.
Geo News reported that the missile’s range makes it capable of striking targets in the United States.
Russia maintains a large strategic nuclear arsenal, and its ICBMs form a central component of the country’s nuclear deterrent.
However, the launch was presented by Moscow as a training-combat test intended to assess the performance and readiness of its missile forces, rather than as a declared preparation for an attack.
Ratcliffe’s Moscow visit
The missile test followed a recent visit to Moscow by CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service chief Sergei Naryshkin confirmed that he held a working-level meeting with Ratcliffe. The Kremlin and Washington have not publicly disclosed the full details of their discussions.
Reports indicated that Ratcliffe may have raised concerns about potential Russian military operations against NATO members. US President Donald Trump, however, downplayed the significance of the visit and said he did not believe Russian President Vladimir Putin would attack NATO territory.
Russia warns Britain and France
The missile test also comes against a backdrop of increasingly sharp rhetoric between Moscow and Western governments.
Russia recently warned that it could target British military facilities in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory using British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles. Moscow has also issued warnings involving France and described European Union countries as adversaries.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has accused European countries of increasing their military capabilities against Russia.
At the same time, Ukraine has continued to conduct drone and missile operations against Russian targets as the war enters another phase of intensified fighting.
What the missile test means
The latest launch demonstrates that Russia continues to test and exercise its strategic missile forces despite ongoing diplomatic contacts with Washington.
The timing is likely to attract attention because it followed Ratcliffe’s Moscow visit and came amid warnings and counter-warnings involving Russia, NATO members and Ukraine.
