The Sarmat, also called Satan in the West, can carry up to 16 nuclear warheads with a range of 18,000 kilometers or the Avangard hypersonic glider, which can be equipped with both conventional and nuclear warheads. Each of the missiles carried by the Sarmat missile is capable of aiming at a different target. According to Karakayev, the missile systems are located at the bases in the silos, the TASS agency recalled.
“Sarmat is dangerous and can do a lot of damage, but under one condition – if it doesn’t explode at launch. This still happens occasionally. For example, in September, a rocket exploded during an attempt to launch and left behind a crater the size of a quarter of a football field, and the explosion destroyed everything within a radius of one kilometer,” said Tadić for Net.hr.
According to Tadič, the Russians claim that the targets in the West can disappear within 10 to 15 minutes after the launch of the Sarmat. “But they no longer say that the targets in Russia would disappear in 15 to 20 minutes in retaliation from the West,” noted an expert from the Euromesco think tank. “After that, only (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and a few cockroaches would survive in the bunker in Moscow,” he added.
In the new doctrine, Putin lowered the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons. There is a threat of a nuclear attack even in the case of a non-nuclear attack on Russia, which will be supported by a nuclear power. Threats were made even after the US and Britain gave Ukraine the green light to use ATACMS and Storm Shadows long-range missiles to attack Russian territory.
Russia reports that it has put the intercontinental Sarmatians on combat alert
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Nevertheless, Tadić is convinced that there is no real nuclear threat as well as “red lines” that would prompt the Russians to start a nuclear war. “No, I’m not afraid of a nuclear war, because this is already the 43rd Russian nuclear threat, and in each one it is said that it is the ‘really’ real one. And every time they talk about the fact that it will completely destroy the entire West,” he said.
Russia has already reported on the introduction of Sarmatians into combat service several times. President Putin “promised” them in December 2022 and in February, May and September 2023. Each time he claimed that the new complex has the highest tactical-technical qualities, is able to overcome all modern anti-aircraft systems and has no competitor in the world and will not have it for a long time.
However, the Sarmatian tests were not successful. Most recently, in September of this year, satellite images showed a large crater at the Jubilejnaya launch pad. According to analysts, it was created during the failed test of the Sarmat missile.
After the failed nuclear launch vehicle test, the Russians have a giant hole in their cosmodrome
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