The nuclear threat seems closer than ever. The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, has launched a new arms race after announcing serial production of a new generation of hypersonic missiles which, among other things, are capable of reaching European capitals in a matter of minutes while being undetectable.
“No one in the world has such weapons for now. Yes, sooner or later other powers will also have them, but that will be tomorrow or in a year or two. And we already have that system now and that is the important thing,” Putin himself said last Friday when meeting with representatives of his Ministry of Defense and the military industry.
Beyond words, Russian forces have already actually shown off the power of these missiles. In the early hours of this Thursday The country attacked the Ukrainian city of Dnipro with one of these hypersonic weapons, some events that set off all the alarms regarding a new escalation of the conflict. They did it, yes, without a nuclear charge and, as Putin himself revealed, the attack occurred in response to the ‘green light’ that the Ukrainian country has received from USA and the United Kingdom to use long-range missiles against them.
After the Ukrainian attack, this country remains for the moment being the center of all Russian operationsbut the truth is that the gaze is already expanding to other horizons given the warnings that these missiles could also be directed towards the American country and towards those that the Kremlin considers its ‘European satellites’.
Missile serial production
The use of one of these weapons in Ukraine led the United States authorities last Thursday to ensure that It was a merely “experimental” missile. However, Putin, in response to these statements, has announced the serial production of the specific hypersonic missile with which they hit the city of Dnipro: the Oreshnik.
Its speed, up to three kilometers per second, thus makes it a weapon undetectable to enemy defense services. There are hardly any images of this missile and information about it is very limited, but Ukrainian intelligence stated that it was launched from a missile complex in the Russian region of Astrakhan, southern Russia, and more than 800 kilometers from Dnipro. The missile took like this just 15 minutes to arrive to the city.
Putin has highlighted that, although the Oreshnik is not a weapon of mass destruction, since it pursues much more precise objectives, its use will be assigned to the Strategic Forces. for having a range of several thousand kilometers. And, at the same time, he has issued another warning, ensuring that Moscow will continue with the tests of said missile “including in combat conditions.”
Europe, in the spotlight
Beyond Ukraine, the truth is that Russia’s threats have been directed towards other countries. After Dnipro, experts have qualified the facts as a “warning” to the West by the authorities Russians and the reality is that the commander of the Russian Strategic Forces, Sergei Karakaev, has spoken openly about this possibility.
“By virtue of the planned missions and the range of such weapons, it can hit targets throughout Europe. The massive use of such weapons is comparable to the use of nuclear weapons,” said Karakaev. Similarly, Russian television has already shown on several occasions What would an attack on various capitals in Europe be like?thus simulating attacks that travel across the continent from London to Paris, passing through Berlin.
“Weapons of the future”
Far from only having the Oreshnik, the Russian forces have assured that they have other missiles that the head of the Kremlin himself has described as “the weapons of the future.” These are on the waiting list to begin their trials, after which they will also begin to be mass produced. “We are organizing a whole line of short and medium range systems,” the Kremlin has highlighted.
Already a few months ago, Putin had in fact stressed the need to resume the manufacturing of this type of weapons In response to the United States and this Thursday, precisely after the launch of Orèshnik, the Russian president accused the American country of proceeding to develop these missiles. This week, furthermore, Russia promulgated the new nuclear doctrine that allows responses with atomic weapons to conventional attacks. The Chamber of Deputies has also approved an increase of up to 25% in defense spending by 2025.
In recent days, after the escalation of the conflict, the presence of the system known as ‘Mano Muerta’ (Dead Hand)a semi-automatic mechanism developed since the Cold War with which Russia’s entire nuclear arsenal could be launched in the event that the president of Russia and his military leadership died as a result of a first American nuclear attack. This is, without a doubt, another of the great mechanisms that Russia has, one more to add to what is established as the new arms race of the new world.
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