A Russian nuclear submarine has tested four intercontinental missiles in the Sea of Okhotsk on the Pacific Ocean, DPA quoted the Defense Ministry as saying on Saturday. The missiles were fired from the Vladimir Monomakh and hit targets more than 5,500 kilometers away at a firing range in northwestern Russia, according to the ministry. The test completes large-scale nuclear exercises, according to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who notified President Vladimir Putin. Such maneuvers are seen by observers as a demonstration of strength by Russia. The test comes amid ongoing negotiations over the future of the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty, the last major nuclear disarmament agreement between Russia and the United States. New START limits the number of nuclear ballistic missile launchers to 800 and operational nuclear warheads to 1,550. The treaty is the last major disarmament treaty between the two powers. It expires early in February next year. Without it, there would be no agreement governing stocks of strategic nuclear weapons for the first time in decades. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), an independent think tank, the two nuclear heavyweights jointly possess about 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons. A Russian nuclear submarine successfully test-fired four intercontinental ballistic missiles on Saturday in a show of readiness of Moscow's nuclear forces amid tension with the US. The Vladimir Monomakh nuclear submarine test launched four ballistic missiles on Saturday. The Bulava missiles were launched from underwater and hit their target several thousand kilometres away in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the statement said. It was the submarine's first test of four missiles. It has a capacity for 16 Bulava missiles with nuclear warheads. The Vladimir Monomakh is one of the new Borei-class nuclear submarines that carry 16 Bulava missiles each and are intended to serve as the core of the naval component of the nation's nuclear forces for decades to come. Another submarine of the same type performed a similar launch of four Bulava missiles in 2018 — a costly demonstration of the efficiency of the country's nuclear deterrent mimicking the conditions of a major nuclear conflict. — Agencies
