It appears that Vladimir Putin is playing the same game Kim Jong-un had played. That game is lobbing ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) as if it was hamburgers, to get the attention of the West, or to send a message. Unlike North Korea, however, there has been almost zero criticism from the world when Putin tested not one, but two extremely powerful missiles.

 

For the second time on Friday, Kremlin tested its new ICBM in what is seen as an attempt by Putin to show off his military prowess. The nuclear missile – RS-28 Sarmat (dubbed “Satan 2” by NATO) – was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, some 500 miles from Moscow. Last December, Putin flexed his muscle by testing the same fearsome missile.

 

Sarmat was one of several new weapons announced by Putin at his March 1 annual presidential address. The Russian leader claimed that the new technology was so advanced that no missile defence technology, including in the U.S., could stop it. Therefore, Vladimir Putin proudly proclaimed his latest toy the “invincible missile”.

The “Satan-2” is intended to replace the old “Satan-1” (RS-36M Voyevoda). Still, after years of empty rhetoric about its production and deployment, people didn’t pay much attention to the new ballistic missile. Developed under a modernisation program involving US$348 billion, the RS-28 Sarmat however raised eyebrows when Putin announced something else.

 

Putin also declared the existence of the “Avangard” hypersonic missile system during his presidential address early March.  Weighing 220 tons, the Sarmat could fly over both poles of the Earth (hence bypassing any current U.S. missile defence system) with its payload of Avangard warhead, which could fly at 20 times the speed of sound and strike its targets “like a meteorite, like a fireball.”

 

Each Sarmat ICBM itself could carry up to 24 Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle. In other words, a single Sarmat is capable of destroying an area the size of Texas or UK, at least in theory. The U.S. Air Force General John E. Hyten, the Commander of US Strategic Command, made a worrying admission that America has no defenses against hypersonic weapons.

The U.S. general’s admission suggests that the hypersonic nuclear cruise missiles trumpeted by the Russian, and Chinese for that matter, do exist and not just empty talks. To intercept the Satan-2, the U.S. will need to fire 500 ABM (anti-ballistic missiles). But why did Putin show off his missile, which can reach any point in the world, again on Friday?

 

Kremlin has been monitoring Dictator Kim Jong-un’s provocation with great interest. And it appears that pariah state North Korea could successfully intimidate world superpower America using military force – nuclear weapon. In spite of Trump’s tough language, the U.S. dares not attack the North, unlike Syria where dozens of Tomahawk cruise missiles rained the Middle East nation.

 

Russia has the second largest nuclear arsenal in the world, behind United States. While the first testing of Sarmat ICBM was to remind the world that Putin is as tough as Trump, the second testing on Monday clearly was to send a message to the UK in the wake of the chemical attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury.

After the war of words between Trump and Kim over who has a bigger nuclear button, the same drama made its rerun but between British Prime Minister Theresa May and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The war of words between London and Moscow was over which country would be wiped out first if a nuclear war were to happen.

 

That was after Mrs. May issued an ultimatum to Mr. Putin, to which Russia ignored the deadline with a warning – don’t threaten a nuclear power. Moscow said it will not respond to London’s ultimatum until it receives samples of the chemical substance allegedly used to attack the Russian double agent. UK has since expelled 23 Russian diplomats.

 

United States supported United Kingdom’s action by booting 60 Russian officials and closing its consulate in Seattle. In a show of unity, the U.S. and European allies had kicked out more than 100 Russian diplomats. Russia retaliated by booting 23 British diplomats and sending 60 American diplomats packing as well as closing the U.S. Consulate in St. Petersburg.

In latest tit-for-tat moves, Moscow answered in kind, ordering the expulsion of 59 diplomats from 23 countries on Friday, the same day Putin showed off his Satan-2 which could unleash Avangard hypersonic cruise missiles capable of wiping Britain or France. There was an astonishing display of European envoys arriving one after the other at Russia’s Foreign Ministry in Moscow.

 

It wasn’t a coincidence that Russia’s Ministry of Defence tweeted a video showing the Sarmat ICBM taking off, on the same day 23 European ambassadors were told to appear at the ministry in central Moscow to receive formal notes of protest and notices of expulsion orders. The message is clear – Putin is ready to retaliate both politically and militarily – when push comes to shove.

 

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March 31st, 2018 by financetwitter

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