Russia tests Sarmat ICBM, 35,000 km range

Russia said on May 12 that it had successfully tested the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, a heavy silo-based weapon President Vladimir Putin described as the world’s most powerful missile. In a Kremlin-published videoconference, Strategic Missile Forces commander Sergei Karakayev told Putin the launch took place at 11:15 a.m. and that the mission had been completed successfully. Putin said the missile would enter combat service by the end of the year, while Karakayev said the first regiment could be placed on combat duty in Uzhur, in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk Territory, by year-end. ### What exactly did Russia say it tested? Sergei Karakayev said the Strategic Missile Forces launched “the latest heavy liquid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missile, the Sarmat” on May 12. He described it as a silo-based, stationary intercontinental ballistic missile being developed to replace the Soviet-era Voyevoda system. (en.special.kremlin.ru) The Kremlin transcript said the test confirmed the missile’s design and technology solutions and its ability to meet designated performance specifications. Karakayev said the Sarmat surpasses the Voyevoda in range, throw-weight, launch readiness and countermeasure capabilities. ### Where does the 35,000-kilometre range claim come from? (en.special.kremlin.ru) Vladimir Putin said in televised remarks that the Sarmat could travel on a suborbital as well as a ballistic trajectory, giving it a range exceeding 35,000 kilometres, according to reports that cited the Kremlin statement and state television footage. Putin also said the missile’s warhead yield was more than four times greater than any Western equivalent. (en.special.kremlin.ru) Those are Russian official claims, and the available source material reviewed here does not provide independent verification of the figures. Russian officials have long presented the Sarmat as a system designed to defeat missile defences. Karakayev told Putin the missile had capabilities intended to overcome existing and future missile-defence systems, and Putin said it could penetrate all such systems. ### What did Putin say about deployment? Putin said on May 12 that the Sarmat would enter combat service at the end of 2026. (aljazeera.com) Karakayev said the successful launch would allow the first missile regiment equipped with Sarmat to be placed on combat duty in the Uzhur formation by the end of the year. Uzhur is one of Russia’s long-established strategic missile bases and has previously hosted Voyevoda missiles. (en.special.kremlin.ru) In the Kremlin transcript, Karakayev said the next step after the launch would be placing the missiles on combat standby duty. ### How new is the Sarmat programme? Al Jazeera, citing Reuters, AP and AFP, said development of the Sarmat began in 2011. (en.special.kremlin.ru) The same report said the programme had faced delays and setbacks before this week’s launch. Russian officials have cast the missile as a centerpiece of the modernization of the land-based leg of the country’s nuclear forces. (en.special.kremlin.ru) In the Kremlin transcript, Putin linked the programme to Russia’s response after the United States withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002. ### Why is this announcement drawing attention now? (aljazeera.com) May 13 reports and May 14 circulation of the launch footage pushed the announcement beyond Russian state media into wider international coverage. Reuters-based reports carried by other outlets said the test came after the expiry in February of New START, the last remaining U.S.-Russia treaty limiting deployed strategic nuclear warheads and delivery systems. (en.special.kremlin.ru) The Kremlin’s English-language site published the Putin-Karakayev exchange dated May 12, 2026, and identified it as a statement on the successful test launch of the Sarmat missile. That transcript remains the primary public source for the timing, participants and deployment timeline Russia is asserting. May 12 is the date Russia gave for the launch, and the next concrete milestone named by officials is the placement of the first Sarmat regiment on combat duty in Uzhur by the end of 2026. (usnews.com) (en.special.kremlin.ru)