New | Russia test-fires nuclear-capable missile amid tensions in Crimea
US says it was notified ahead of launch
Russia has carried out a successful test-launch of an “advanced” intercontinental ballistic missile, state news agencies reported, amid a fierce stand-off between Moscow and the West over Ukraine.
The Strategic Rocket Forces launched an RS-12M Topol missile from the southerly Astrakhan region, Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Yegorov told state-run news agency RIA.
This was a previously notified and routine test launch of [a ballistic missile]
The dummy warhead hit its target at Sary Shagan test range, a proving ground that Russia leases in Kazakhstan, he said.
The launch site, Kapustin Yar, is near the Volga River about 450 kilometres east of the Ukrainian border. Kazakhstan, a Russian ally in a post-Soviet security grouping, is further to the east.
The ballistic missile launch was routine and the US government was notified “before the crisis started in Ukraine”, a senior defence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The defence official provided no details of the missile’s advanced features, saying only that it was launched from Kapustin Yar, near Volgograd.
The road-mobile missile – designed to carry a nuclear warhead – was last reportedly tested by Russia on December 28. It is referred to as the SS-25 Sickle by Nato and has a reported maximum range of 10,500 kilometres.