Russia’s test launch of an ICBM known as Satan II appears to have failed

A new satellite image shows that Russia may have conducted a failed intercontinental ballistic missile test in recent days involving its Sarmat ICBM, also known as Satan II.

A satellite image analyzed by CBS News shows a large crater and remnants of a possible explosion at the launch site at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia on September 21. The crater is about 200 meters across, and the site contains black debris and other debris. indicating that a large fire or explosion.

Satellite images show several trucks at the site. Fires continued to burn in trees near the pad’s launch site on Saturday, according to George Barros, who heads the Institute for the Study of War’s Russia.

Pavel Podvig, director of the Russian Nuclear Forces Project, an arms control and nuclear analysis blog, said the launch could take place on September 19. A. Notice on Air Missions or a NOTAM notice to pilots in the area later canceled on the same day. Podvig said the explosion may have occurred during the de-energization of the missile as photos indicated that the missile may have “exploded in the silo.”

The Plesetsk Cosmodrome is located approximately 500 kilometers north of Moscow and 250 miles east of the Russian-Finnish border.

“We are aware of a media report about the launch of a Russian ICBM earlier this month. We have forwarded it to the Russian Ministry of Defense for further information on the incident,” said a spokesperson for the US Department of Defense in a statement sent to CBS News.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to comment at a press conference on Monday, September 23, about the alleged explosion, saying: “We have no information on this matter.”

This is the latest test of Russia’s Sarmat ICBM since the missile became operational in 2021. last launched in February 2023two days before President Biden’s visit to Kyiv, Ukraine. US officials he told CBS News test failed.

The Sarmat is classified as a “heavy” ICBM designed to reach targets up to 11,000 kilometers away and can carry up to 10 tons in payload, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Missile Defense Project.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the country suspended its participation in the nuclear weapons agreement called the New START Treaty in February 2023, adding that Russia will resume nuclear weapons tests if the US does.

The US conducted two Minuteman III ICBM tests in 2023, one in June and one in September.

Tom Karako, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Missile Defense Project, told CBS News that Sarmat’s latest test is “nuclear saber rattling.”

“The United States, to some extent, is playing an important role in the modernization of our nuclear power, which, on average, is growing,” Karako said. “Russia has been putting a lot of effort behind this, so Sarmat is part of that, but it’s a beast with many heads.”

Sergei Karakayev, commander of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces, said in December 2023 that the country intended to conduct seven ICBM tests by 2024.

According to the independent Russian newspaper Sirena, Russia has conducted six unsuccessful nuclear weapons tests since June, including its Poseidon torpedo missile and the Bulava submarine.