In January 2020 Russia was estimated to have 532 strategic launchers that can carry about 2100 nuclear warheads. In its September 2019 New START data exchange Russia reported 513 deployed launchers with 1426 New START-accountable nuclear warheads.
In the traditional 17 December interview marking the anniversary of the Strategic Rocket Forces (established on that day in 1959), commander Sergey Karakayev reported that his force completed the deployment of Yars missiles in the silos of the missile division...
Although the Golden Dome will soon mark its first anniversary, there is still not much clarity on what the system will consist of, what it will be asked to do, or, more importantly, what it will be able to do....
The Knyaz Pozharsky submarine of the Project 955A/Borey-A class was accepted for service in July 2025. The formal acceptance would normally take place in December, but with Knyaz Pozharsky it was postponed for about six months, presumably to complete the...
On 1 December 2025 Russia issued a series of NOTAM notifications that indicated an upcoming ICBM launch from Plesetsk to Kura during the 3-7 December 2025 window. The missile to be tested was certain to be Yars (or some of...
On 28 November 2025, local Russian media and then Telegram channels reported an explosion near Yasnyy in Orenburg oblast. The town is close to the old basing area of the 13th missile division. A full video of the incident shows...
On 25 November 2025, at 16:42 MSK (13:42 UTC) crews of the Air and Space Forces conducted a successful launch of an Angara 1.2 launcher from the launch pad 1 of the launch complex 35 of the Plesetsk test site....
Speaking at the award ceremony for the designers of Burevestnik and Poseidon, the Russian president mentioned another strategic system, Sarmat: This year, we will put the Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile system through combat trials, and next year, deploy it...
On 27 October 2025 the President of Russia signed a federal law that denounced the US-Russian Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement. This law ended another chapter in the history of US-Russian cooperation. The factual account, with links to documents, is...
When Russia held its annual strategic exercise on 22 October 2025, the Chief of the General Staff said that the purpose of the exercise was to "practice the procedures for authorizing the use of nuclear weapons." This prompted me...
On 21 October 2025 Russia conducted what was described as the key test of the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile (also referred to as SSC-X-9 Skyfall). The test was discussed at a meeting of the President of Russia and the military...
The book
