President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, Mr Karakayev. Do you hear me?
Commander of the Strategic Missile Forces Sergei Karakayev: Good afternoon, Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief.
Vladimir Putin: Please, proceed, Mr Karakayev.
Sergei Karakayev: Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief,
Today at 11:15 a.m., the Strategic Missile Forces launched the latest heavy liquid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missile, the Sarmat. The launch was successful. The launch mission has been accomplished.
The test results confirmed the correctness of the design and technology solutions employed, as well as the missile system’s ability to meet its designated performance specifications.
The Sarmat strategic missile system – a silo-based, stationary intercontinental ballistic missile – is being developed to replace the Soviet-era Voyevoda system. The Sarmat surpasses its predecessor in key combat characteristics, first of all in range, throw-weight, launch readiness, and countermeasure capabilities designed to confidently overcome both existing and future missile defence systems.
The system is being developed by the Academician V. Makeyev State Rocket Centre in collaboration with a network of industrial partners.
The successful launch results would allow the first missile regiment equipped with the Sarmat system to be placed on combat duty in the Uzhur formation, Krasnoyarsk Territory, by the end of the year.
The deployment of Sarmat launch systems will significantly increase combat capabilities of Russia’s land-based strategic nuclear forces, enhancing their ability to engage targets and fulfil strategic deterrence objectives.
The objective set for this launch has been accomplished. We will now proceed with placing the missiles on combat standby duty. This concludes the report.
Vladimir Putin: Mr Karakayev, congratulations, I wish you further success. In this regard, I would like to say the following.
Work on strengthening Russia’s deterrence forces resumed in the early 2000s and has continued ever since. Frankly, at that time, Russia faced many more immediate challenges. The country was going through a very difficult period in its history. However, after the United States withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002, we were compelled – and I want to emphasise this, compelled – to reassess how to ensure our strategic security under new conditions and maintain strategic balance and parity. This is precisely why – let me stress this once again – Russia began developing advanced systems that have no equivalents in the world and are designed to penetrate both current and future missile defence systems.”
We are steadily implementing the nuclear forces development programme adopted for this purpose. Work on the Avangard intercontinental range missile system began in 2004, and it has been on combat duty since 2019. We subsequently introduced the Kinzhal medium-range hypersonic air-launched missile, which has been on combat duty since 2017. It is already being employed in the special military operation, while efforts continue to further improve it, including enhancing the precision of its conventional warheads.
The Oreshnik land-based medium-range missile system, which is also capable of carrying nuclear warheads, has been on combat duty since 2025. Work is also nearing completion on two systems powered by miniature nuclear units for propulsion: the unique Poseidon unmanned underwater vehicle and the unique Burevestnik global-range cruise missile.
Now to the Sarmat system. Its development began in 2011, and in 2018, we publicly announced both the programme and the advantages of this new generation of strategic missile systems, including Sarmat. Let me briefly revisit the key points highlighted at that time.
First, it is the most powerful missile system in the world, comparable in strength to the Voyevoda missile system previously in service, which, as mentioned earlier, was developed during the Soviet era. The combined yield of the payload is more than four times greater than that of any existing Western counterpart
Secondly, and most importantly, the missile is capable of travelling not only along a ballistic trajectory, but also along a suborbital one. This, and this is the third point, extends its operational range to over 35,000 kilometres while simultaneously doubling the accuracy. Finally, it makes the missile capable of penetrating any missile defence systems that are in service or in development at this time. The Sarmat will indeed be placed on combat duty by the end of this year.
I congratulate the Ministry of Defence, all military personnel, researchers, engineers, defence industry managers, lead contractors, and the thousands of workers involved in cooperative production on this important achievement and clear success.
Thank you for your contribution to strengthening Russia’s defence capabilities.
Mr Karakayev, thank you.
Sergei Karakayev: Yes, sir. I serve Russia!
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