Putin Addresses Defense Ministry Board, Says Russia Will Continue Upgrading Its Nuclear Forces

Dec. 22, 2022 (EIRNS)—Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an address to an expanded meeting of the Russian Defense Ministry board yesterday, promised that Russia will continue to modernize and upgrade its strategic nuclear forces. “It is the main guarantee that our sovereignty and territorial integrity, strategic parity and the general balance of forces in the world are preserved,” he said.

“This year, the level of modern armaments in the strategic nuclear forces has already exceeded 91%. We continue rearming the regiments of our strategic missile forces with modern missile systems with Avangard hypersonic warheads,” Putin continued. He reported that “in the near future,” the Sarmat heavy ICBM will be on combat duty for the first time, and that combat units are continuing to be re-equipped with the Yars solid fuel ICBM. Putin also state that the Russian Navy frigate Admiral Gorshkov will go on combat duty in early January equipped with Tsircon (Zircon) hypersonic missiles. He vowed, “We will continue equipping our strategic forces with the latest weapon systems.”