Russian Ministry of Defense
Russian submarine with Poseidon nuclear drones
The test of the Russian superweapon comes just days after Vladimir Putin announced the successful test of the “Burevestnik”, Russia’s new “never seen” nuclear missile.
The Russian President, Vladimir Putinstated this Wednesday that Russia has successfully tested its Poseidon superweapon, a drone with “unstoppable” propulsion and nuclear capability and “capable of causing a tsunami”, and also called “doomsday torpedo“.
Poseidon, one of the most recent Russian nuclear weapons projects, was presented by Putin in 2018, as a clear deterrence message addressed to the West, and it was in January 2023.
According to Putin, the Poseidon test took place on Tuesday. “There is nothing like it in the world in terms of speed and depth of movement of this unmanned vehicle — and it is unlikely that it will ever exist”, declared the Russian president, adding that “there is no way to intercept it”.
The president did not reveal Poseidon’s launch site or the distance traveled, limiting himself to saying that “traveled for some time”, says .
Poseidon is one of 6 Russian nuclear projects, considered “superweapons” by experts in military affairs, who were presented by the Kremlin before the invasion of Ukrainein an apparent attempt to increase Moscow’s negotiating margin in future disarmament talks with the United States.
This torpedo, which is believed to be capable of reaching 100 knots (about 185 km/h), was designed to bypass defense systems and cause a tsunami powerful enough to devastate a coastal town.
For years, some experts doubted that the weapon even existedafter initial images were released by Russian state television in 2015, during the broadcast of a meeting between Putin and senior military officials.
On Sunday, Putin had already announced that Russia had successfully tested the missile, also with nuclear capability, and was preparing to put it into operation.
In Wednesday’s announcement, the Russian president added that the missile has “unrivaled advantages” and that its nuclear reactor can be activated “in minutes or seconds”.
The announcement comes just a few days after the summit cancellation that was expected to occur between the president of the USA, Donald Trumpand Vladimir Putin — an apparent failure of negotiations for a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine, says The New York Times.
