Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Sarmat missile test on April 20, 2022
The US believes Russia failed an ICBM test while Biden was in Ukraine.
Russia has unsuccessfully tested its “invincible” Sarmat missile capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads. The testing took place during President Joe Biden’s visit to Ukraine, CNN reported on Tuesday, February 22, citing two unnamed US officials.
Officials also suggested that if the tests were successful, Russian President Vladimir Putin would certainly advertise them in his address to the nation yesterday. But instead, he announced a suspension of Russian participation in the latest US-Russian nuclear arms limitation treaty and ordered his nuclear forces to prepare for a new arms race.
Russian fiasco
Moscow had given Washington advance notice of a test launch of its super-heavy Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, dubbed Satan II in the West, through the deconflict lines, CNN reported, citing one official.
Note that the United States also used this communication channel on Sunday evening, when a few hours later they informed Russia about Biden’s unexpected visit to Kyiv.
The US did not view the Sarmat launch as “an anomaly or an escalation,” CNN told CNN, citing an official.
The test of the heavy rocket failed, the sources said. At the same time, US officials refused to name the reason for the “Russian fiasco.”
The network initially reported that the apparent test took place while Biden was in Ukraine, based on information from sources. After this story was first published, one of the officials said the test happened just before Biden arrived in Ukraine. And a second source told CNN that the test took place on Monday, but did not provide a more specific timeframe.
Moscow’s reaction
The Kremlin itself declined to comment on the situation. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that this was “the prerogative of the Ministry of Defense.”
Later, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Ryabkov commented on the CNN material. He urged not to believe the information of the TV channel, which “discredited itself.”
Ryabkov pointed to the recent presence in the public space of many “situations of a provocative nature, when outwardly plausible, but in fact harmful stuffing is carried out,” the purpose of which is to check the reaction of the authorities of a particular country.
“You can’t trust everything that appears in the media. Especially if the source is CNN, which has completely discredited itself in recent years and completely placed itself in the service of the interests of certain groups and a certain part of the US political elite,” Ryabkov said.
However, he did not comment on the missile tests themselves.
“All information that is worthy of public coverage is provided through the channels of the Ministry of Defense,” he added.
Preliminary tests
Recall that Putin announced the successful testing of Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles in the past. The last publicly known successful test of this missile took place a few months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
EPA/Putin watches a test launch of a Sarmat rocket from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk Region via video link at the Kremlin in Moscow April 20, 2022.
Putin, who has made veiled nuclear threats to Kyiv’s Western allies throughout the war, said at the time that Sarmat would make the Kremlin’s enemies “think twice.”
The Sarmat, weighing more than 200 tons and capable of carrying multiple warheads, is among the next generation of Russian missiles Putin has called “invincible.” The missile, he said, is designed to “evade” missile defense systems with a short initial boost phase, giving enemy surveillance systems a narrow tracking window.
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