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Last week, Russia successfully test-fired a multiple warhead-carrying, sea-based missile. Fired from a submarine in the White Sea, the Bulava missile hit its target on the Kamchatka Peninsula near the Pacific Ocean.

On Monday, Russian deputy prime minister Sergei Ivanov announced that his country will launch another Bulava missile “before the end of the year.”

Always the competitor, Russia will upgrade its missiles in light of the U.S. deploying missiles in space, according to the AP. A bit like the pot calling the kettle black, Russia says our space missile plans “could trigger a new arms race.” The AP reports that the U.S. opposes a global ban on nuclear weapons.

No doubt Russia’s test-firings and weapons upgrades are related to our country’s plans to build missile defense bases in Poland and the Czech Republic. Last week we mentioned that Russia successfully test-fired the new RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile, which is designed to defend against missile shields like the two planned for Central Europe.

(Sources: AFP, RIA Novosti, and AP)

 
Today Russia successfully test-fired the new RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile, which is designed to defend against missile shields like the two planned in Poland and the Czech Republic. (AFP)

This is third time in two years Russia fired the RS-24; the first occurred in May 2007, and the second in December 2007.

Spokesman Nikolai Solovtsov said, “The targets that were set were reached. The tasks were fully carried out,” the commander of Russia’s strategic missile forces…The deployment of the RS-24 missiles, which have a detachable warhead, strengthens the military options of the Russian missile forces in overcoming missile defence systems.”

Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin want President-Elect Barack Obama to reverse the Bush administration’s plans for missile defense shields in Poland and the Czech Republic. In fact, the AFP reports that Medvedev called the current administration “extremely inflexible.”

CBS News reports that in the past six months, the “soft-spoken” Russian president may have been employing Cold War rhetoric and tactics. Russia aggressively attacked and occupied Georgia, and Medvedev said America’s economic problems have “now transformed into a full-scale international financial crisis.”

In addition to blaming the U.S. for the global financial crisis, Russia has threatened to deploy missiles on the Polish border if the U.S. goes through with its plans in Eastern Europe.