Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Sunday that Russia had successfully completed the final test of its new nuclear-powered cruise missile, the Burevestnik, describing it as a “unique” weapon with a range of up to 14,000 kilometres (8,700 miles).
“The decisive tests are now complete,” Putin said in a video released by the Kremlin during a meeting with military officials. He directed the construction of infrastructure necessary to deploy the weapon within the Russian armed forces.
Putin hailed the Burevestnik as “a unique creation that no one else in the world possesses,” adding that the missile has an “unlimited range.”
During the most recent test, conducted on 21 October, Russia’s Chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, said the missile flew for around 15 hours, covering a distance of 14,000 kilometres — a range he noted was not the missile’s upper limit.
“The technical characteristics of the Burevestnik enable it to strike highly protected targets with guaranteed precision, regardless of distance,” Gerasimov stated.
Putin first announced the development of the Burevestnik missile in 2018 as part of Russia’s efforts to modernise its strategic weapons arsenal amid ongoing tensions with the West and the continuing conflict in Ukraine.