Russia tests new long-range ICBM

Moscow, May 29 (UNI) Russia today tested its new long-range RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicles.

''The prototype of the new ICBM RS-24 with multiple independently targeted re-entry, vehicles was launched at 1420 hrs (local time) from a mobile launcher remodelled to test the new ICBM at the Plesetsk test cosmodrome,'' Interfax news agency reported quoting a spokesman for the Russian Defence Ministry.

RS-24 will replace ICBMs of the previous generations RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) and RS-20 (SS-18 Satan) capable of carrying six and ten warheads respectively, he said.

The training and combat blocks of Russia's new RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile with independently targeted re-entry vehicles hit the designated target at the Kura test site in Kamchatka.

Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said Russia must take into account the deployment of medium and short-range missiles in the countries near its borders.

''Our neighbours in the east and south are developing medium and short-range missiles. The Soviet-US treaty on intermediate nuclear forces is not effective because since it was signed, scores of countries have appeared that have such missiles while Russia and the United States are not allowed to have them,'' Mr Ivanov said.

''This is a serious factor and we should not overlook it,'' he said, adding ''All this is posing a real threat to us and the consequences can be unpredictable.'' President Vladimir Putin also warned against turning Europe into a ''powder keg'', referring to Washington's plans to deploy elements of its missile defence system in Europe.

''We consider it harmful and dangerous to turn Europe into a 'powder keg' and to fill it with new kinds of weapons,'' Mr Putin said at a joint press conference after his talks with the visiting Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates ''It creates new unnecessary risks for the entire system of international and European relations,'' Mr Putin said.

UNI