Putin's hope for Sarmat missile launch from Plesetsk failed

The Sarmat, nicknamed Satan II by NATO, is one of the new super missiles under development and highlighted by the leader in Kremlin in his intensified nuclear sable rattling since 2018.

Sarmat is Russia’s new generation silo-based ballistic missile and can carry multiple nuclear warheads allegedly capable of avoiding missile defence systems.

It is CNN, with US officials sources familiar with the matter, that reports about what is believed to be a failed test of the missile from the Plesetsk cosmodrome this Monday.

The February 20 launch was supposedly aimed to be a talking point in the dictator’s State of the Nation address on February 21. Putin said nothing about the test, but made clear that Russia suspends participation in the arms reduction treaty New START.

Earlier in February, the Barents Observer reported about Russia denying the United States its right to conduct on-site verifications under the treaty. The inspections are a bilateral arrangement between the US and Russia aimed at maintaining mutual trust about each others number of deployed nuclear warheads and missiles, including onboard the Northern Fleet submarines sailing out from the Kola Peninsula.