The chief of Russia's strategic forces on Saturday attended the deployment of a new set of state-of-the art intercontinental ballistic missiles, boasting of their capability to penetrate any prospective missile defense, news reports said, according to AP. Col. Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, chief of the Strategic Missile Forces, took part in a ceremony that marked the commissioning of the latest set of Topol-M missiles at a missile base in Tatishchevo in the Volga River's Saratov region. Solovtsov said Saturday that the new missile «is capable of penetrating any missile defense system,» the RIA Novosti and Interfax news agencies reported. Russian officials have called prospective U.S. missile defenses destabilizing and boasted repeatedly that Russia's new missiles could pierce any nation's missile shield. The Russian military commissioned the first group of Topol-Ms in December 1998, but the deployment has proceeded slower than planned because of a shortage of funds, and Soviet-built ballistic missiles have remained the backbone of the nation's nuclear forces. The Topol-M missiles, capable of hitting targets more than 10,000 kilometers (6,000 miles) away, have so far been deployed in silos. The mobile version, mounted on a heavy off-road vehicle, is to enter combat service next year, Solovtsov said.
