‘Waste of time’: Trump and Putin meeting in Budapest canceled
President Trump had originally planned to meet with President Putin to try to reach a deal to end the war with Ukraine. The summit was canceled after a few days.
MOSCOW – Russia has successfully tested a nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile. The Russian government claims the weapon can penetrate any defensive shield, and President Vladimir Putin said on October 26 that it would move toward deploying the weapon.
The test, which parallels last week’s nuclear test, sends a message, in Putin’s words, that Russia will not bow to Western pressure over the war in Ukraine, even as President Donald Trump takes a tougher stance on Moscow’s calls for a ceasefire.
Russian military chief of staff Valery Gerasimov told President Putin that the missile traveled 8,700 miles during the Oct. 21 test and was in the air for about 15 hours.
Russia says the 9M730 Burevestnik (Storm Petrel), dubbed SSC-X-9 Skyfall by NATO, has a near-infinite range and unpredictable flight path, making it “invincible” against current and future missile defenses.
“This is a unique product that no one else in the world has,” Putin, who wore camouflage for a meeting with generals overseeing the war in Ukraine, said in a statement released by the Kremlin on Sunday.
Since first unveiling the 9M730 Burevestnik in 2018, President Putin has fielded the weapon in response to U.S. efforts to build a missile defense shield and expand the NATO military alliance after Washington unilaterally withdrew from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2001.
President Putin said on Sunday that Russian experts once told him the weapon would never be possible, but now said “significant testing” of it had ended.
He told Gerasimov, his trusted wartime commander, that Russia needed to figure out how to classify its weapons and prepare its infrastructure to deploy burevestniks.
But the timing of the missile test, and the fact that Putin announced it after exhausting headquarters meetings with generals in charge of the Ukraine war, sends a signal to the West, especially Trump.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the missile.
President Putin signals Washington
For President Trump, who branded Russia a “Paper Tiger” for failing to quickly take control of Ukraine, the message is that Russia remains a global military competitor, especially with respect to nuclear weapons, and that Russia’s overtures on nuclear arms control must be implemented.
Following the United States’ move to provide Ukraine with information about Russia’s long-range energy infrastructure targets, President Putin’s message to the West is that Russia can strike back if it wishes.
After the Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration had lifted important restrictions on Ukraine’s use of some long-range missiles provided by Western allies, President Putin said on October 23 that Russia would respond “very seriously, if not overwhelmingly,” if attacked.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated that message to Russian state television in remarks published on October 26.
Gerasimov said the Burevestnik missile was nuclear-powered and had an essentially unlimited range, but the test was different because it flew over a very long distance. He said it could defeat any anti-missile defenses.
On October 22, President Putin oversaw land, sea and air tests to rehearse the readiness and command structure of Russia’s strategic nuclear forces. Gerasimov said firing training of the Yaz and Sineva intercontinental ballistic missiles, along with two Kh-102 air-launched cruise missiles, had been completed.
“The so-called modernity of our nuclear deterrent is at the highest level,” Putin said, “higher than that of any other nuclear state.”
In Ukraine, Gerasimov said Russian troops had surrounded large numbers of Ukrainian soldiers around Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region and were advancing into Kharkov, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia regions.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Lydia Kelly; Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
