Russia Again Flight Tests New ICBM to Treaty-Violating Range

Russia conducted a flight test of a new intercontinental ballistic missile earlier this month that some U.S. officials and security analysts say is a new violation of Moscow’s arms control treaty commitments.

The March 18 flight test of a new RS-26 missile is part of a large-scale nuclear arms buildup by Russia and is raising concerns about treaty compliance, said U.S. officials familiar with details of the missile test.

US Concerned About Russia’s Emerging Strategic Military Capabilities

The United States is concerned about Russia’s emerging strategic capabilities in nuclear, space, cyber security spheres, Commander of US Strategic Command Adm. Cecil Haney said on Thursday.

“Russia has had more than a decade of investments in modernization across their strategic nuclear forces. This is not about the continuation of the cold war <…>This is about emerging capability at a time of significant concerns in Russians execution of their near abroad strategy,” Adm. Haney said at the event devoted to strategic deterrence in Atlantic Council, Washington, DC.

Treaty Cheating — Russia said to be violating 1987 missile accord

Disguising stronger ICBMs as weaker ICBMs with less capability is the case here — and America is falling for it. While the U.S. continues to “reset”, the neo-Soviet Union continues to restart.

“Treaties are like pie crusts, they are made to be broken” – Vladimir Lenin

Russia is engaged in a major violation of the terms of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with the United States by building a new medium-range missile banned under the accord, according to U.S. intelligence officials.

Disclosure of the treaty violation comes as President Barack Obama last week called for a new round of arms negotiations with Moscow aimed at cutting deployed nuclear warheads by one-third.

Intelligence officials said internal assessments identified Russia’s new Yars M missile that was tested earlier this month as an INF missile with a range of less than 5,500 kilometers.

“The intelligence community believes it’s an intermediate-range missile that [the Russians] have classified as an ICBM because it would violate the INF treaty” if its true characteristics were known, said one official.

US Missile Shield No Threat to Russia – Deputy PM

Rogozin’s statements are only a repeat of what was said in the past: The US missile defense system is useless as their strategic rocket forces are able to change course in all stages after lift-off.

LONDON, April 16 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s strategic forces are capable of penetrating the US missile shield and it poses no military threat to the country, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Tuesday.

“We have solved the issue of penetrating the missile shield. We regret that the United States waste their money on missile defense and compel us to do the same. The missile shield is nothing for us, it’s a bluff. It poses no military threat, but remains a political and economic problem,” Rogozin said during his speech at the Russian embassy in London.