Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu said today that by the end of 2013 the Strategic Rocket Forces will deploy two RS-24 Yars regiments with the Novosibirsk division. An earlier plan called for deployment of Yars in Kozelsk (in silos) and in Nizhniy Tagil by the end of 2013. It's hard to tell if the deployment has been delayed. It is possible that one of the two new Yars regiments will be in Novosibirsk and the other one - in Nizhniy Tagil. Shoigu apparently was speaking only about mobile missiles, so it is possible that the Kozelsk deployment plans are still on track.

What's interesting is that Shoigu also said that the missile system is still undergoing tests at the 1st State Test Space Launch Site (i.e. Plesetsk) and that the final tests will take place in the Novosibirsk division. The only recent test launch from Plesetsk was the one in May 2012 - it is believed to be the missile known as Rubezh (or maybe RS-26 or Yars-M). Shoigu's words seem to suggest that this new missile is likely to be a modification of RS-24 Yars. At the same time, it is a bit early for the new missile to be ready for deployment - it was suggested earlier that it will not begin state acceptance tests until January 2014.