INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russia&s new strategic nuclear submarine, the Imperator Alexander III, has successfully tested a Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile,
Reuters quoted the Russian defence ministry said on Sunday.The missile, which the Federation of American Scientists says is designed to
carry up to six nuclear warheads, was launched from an underwater position in the White Sea off Russia&s northern coast and hit a target
thousands of kilometres away on the Kamchatka peninsula in the Russian Far East, the defence ministry said.&Firing a ballistic missile is
the final element of state tests, after which a decision will be made to accept the cruiser into the Navy,& a ministry statement said.The
Imperator Alexander III is the seventh of the Russian Project 955 Borei (Arctic Wind) class nuclear submarines and the fourth of the
modernised Borei-A variant, according to Russian sources.They are known in NATO as the Dolgoruky class of submarines, after the first boat &
the Yuri Dolgoruky & became the first new generation of nuclear submarine launched by Russia since the Cold War, read the report.The Borei
class submarine is armed with 16 Bulava missiles
The 12-metre (40-foot) missile has a range of about 8,000 km (5,000 miles).Since rising to power in 1999, President Vladimir Putin has
increased military spending and sought to rebuild Russia&s nuclear and conventional forces after the chaos that accompanied the 1991 fall of
the Soviet Union.The Ukraine war has triggered the worst crisis in Moscow&s relations with the West since the depths the Cold War and Putin
last month said he was not ready to say whether or not Russia should resume nuclear testing, Reuters reported.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry
Peskov said in an interview aired on Sunday that relations with the United States were below zero.&Relations are at zero & or I would say
below zero,& Peskov said, though he added that at some point the leaders of Russia and the United States would have to resume contact.&Putin
has repeatedly stated that he is ready for any contacts,& Peskov said.Russia aims to build a total of 10 to 12 Borei-class submarines to be
divided between the Northern and Pacific fleets, according to the current plans disclosed by Russian media.Three more Borei-class submarines
are being built: the Knyaz Pozharsky, the Dmitry Donskoy and the Knyaz Potemkin
Two additional boats are also planned, according to Russian media.The post Russian nuclear submarine test launches Bulava intercontinental
missile first appeared on Ariana News.
