RUSSIA: President Vladimir Putin promised Russians a new generation of high-tech intercontinental ballistic missiles yesterday, despite seeing three rockets misfire in an embarrassing blow to Moscow's military prestige during its biggest war games in 20 years. Daniel McLaughlin reports from Moscow
Mr Putin, an overwhelming favourite for next month's presidential elections, attended the lift-off of a satellite from Plesetsk cosmodrome in the Russian Arctic, a day after watching naval exercises in the Barents Sea from the deck of a nuclear submarine.
Confusion and contradictory naval reports surrounded the failure of two missile launches on Tuesday and yesterday's attempt to salvage some pride backfired when a rocket veered from its trajectory and was blown up by its self-destruct system.
But the glitches did not deter Mr Putin, who swapped the blue uniform and white gloves of the navy for the green outfit of Russia's rocket forces, in a carefully stage-managed media opportunity that Russia's state-run television lapped up.
"The experiments conducted during these manoeuvres, the tests that were successfully completed, have proved that state-of-the-art technical systems will enter service in the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces in the near future," he said.
He insisted they would be able to "hit targets continents away with hypersonic speed, high precision and great manoeuvrability", after praising the launch of an RS-18 ballistic missile from a Russian-run launch site in the steppes of Kazakhstan.
Mr Putin, a former KGB spy, said the new missiles were not intended to threaten US targets, but rather to bolster Russia's defence and help it protect its national interests. He offered no details of the new rockets or when they might appear.