Russia appears to have conducted the first test of the Barguzin rail-mobile missile in Plesetsk some time in the last week. The first report about the test appeared in a somewhat dubious publication (via Military.ru), it was largely confirmed by a number of other sources. There is no official confirmation, though.

It appears to be an "ejection test," which tested the mechanism of the missile leaving its launch container (presumably mounted on a rail car, although it is not clear if this test involved an actual rail car). It is still rather far from a working missile, but it's a step in that direction.

The Barguzin program has a difficult history. It was given a green light in 2014, but then was reported to be suspended. The industry pressed on with "elements of the system" and indeed Yuri Solomonov, the Chief Designer of the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology (MITT) promised back in May that the first ejection test will take place "in the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2016."

This wold be somewhat unusual, but hardly unprecedented for the industry to continue with the development even if the prospect for the ministry of defense's ordering the system are quite uncertain. MITT probably counts on getting an order after all.

UPDATE 11/04/2016: An anonymous "knowledgeable" source told Interfax that there was no launch from Plesetsk in the past few days. However, the source did confirm that the ejection test will take place before the end of the year.

UPDATE 11/22/2016: General Yesin told Defence.ru that there was a test in Plesetsk in early November and that the results were "acceptable." According to Yesin, it was an ejection test from a rail-mounted TEL.

UPDATE 8/17/17: Official history of the Plesetsk test site confirmed that the ejection test did take place.