Putin Wants to Personally Oversee How New Russian Complexes Put on Combat Alert

15:54 GMT, 2 February 2019

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that he decided to change the format of the meetings on the implementation of the state defence order and would personally control the way Russia’s new hypersonic missile systems, as well as the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles, are being put on alert.

Sputnik

“We regularly hold meetings in Sochi on the implementation of the state defence order, every six months, with the participation of our military commanders … and with the participation of industry representatives. Starting this year, I propose to somewhat change the format of our work … I want to see how the work on the production of Sarmat is going, and the preparation for putting it on combat alert," Putin said at the meeting with the Russian foreign and defence ministers.

Moscow: Russian Hypersonic Weapons Eliminate Threat From US Exit From INF Treaty

1 February 2019, 08:55 GMT

The Russian president's comment comes after on 1 March last year Putin said during his annual address to the Russian upper house that Moscow had developed a number of strategic weapons, including Avangard and Kinzhal hypersonic missile systems, underwater drone Poseidon and laser weapon Peresvet.

The leader also stressed that Russia had begun the active phase of testing Sarmat.

After that, the Russian Defence Ministry released a video later that year of the launch of the Avangard hypersonic missile for the first time. Avangard missiles are capable of travelling intercontinental distances in dense layers of the atmosphere at speeds faster than Mach 20.