VLADIMIR Putin has flexed his nuclear arsenal by launching an intercontinental ballistic missile in a chilling warning to the West.
It came after CIA chief John Ratcliffe flew to Moscow and reportedly issued the Kremlin a stern warning not to attack Nato members.
But just days later Putin has defiantly engaged in more nuclear sabre-rattling by firing a ballistic rocket at Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia.
Ominous footage showed the thunderous blast-off as the missile took to the skies under a ball of fire and smoke.
The rocket reportedly hit the Kura test site 4,300 miles away in Russian Pacific region Kamchatka.
“All assigned tasks were completed in full,” said the Defence Ministry’s TV channel Zvezda.
“The purpose of the launch was to confirm the missile system’s performance and flight characteristics.”
The Russians did not immediately disclose the type of missile.
It carried multiple “training warheads” and was a solid fuel missile from a ground-mobile complex consistent with a RS-24 Yars rocket.
The launch came soon after a visit to Moscow by CIA Director John Ratcliffe, when he reportedly gave a “bleak assessment” of the Russian war effort.
Donald Trump‘s chief spy is said to have urged the Putin regime to cut a deal to end the conflict before his military and economic crisis worsens.
Ratcliffe reportedly took his stark message directly to Aleksandr V. Bortnikov, head of Russia’s FSB security service.
No threats of consequences were made if Putin ignored the warning and chose to continue fighting, officials said.
Trump has now insisted Putin wouldn’t attack any Nato territory whilst he was in charge.
He said: “I’ve had good talks with him. He’s not going to be attacking a Nato territory.”
But Russian sources say Putin has since doubled down on the war despite suffering daily costly setbacks.
The latest launch appears a symbolic move intended to convey Putin’s power.
The CIA has long questioned whether Putin’s circle has given him “honest assessments of the war’s trajectory and toll”, The New York Times reported.
They suspect Putin is cocooned from the grim truth as his commanders report constant gains despite a lack of objective evidence.
Ratcliffe hoped that Putin – as an ex-KGB spy – would see a warning as more “urgent and credible” than communications through normal diplomatic channels.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16914567/putin-nuclear-missile-warning-west/
