Putin Promises Nuclear-Capable “Sarmat” Deployment for Seventh Time After Latest Test

Russian leader Vladimir Putin announced the successful test of the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, marking the seventh time he has promised to deploy the weapon to his forces.

During a video call on May 12, Sergey Karakaev, the commander of the Strategic Missile Forces, informed Putin that the launch was a success, according to The Moscow Times.

He stated that the missile, which has been in development since 2013 and suffered two explosions during tests in 2024 and 2025, is scheduled to go on combat duty in the Krasnoyarsk region by the end of 2026.

Karakaev reported that the launch was successful and that the test results confirmed the effectiveness of the design and technological solutions used. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow had already notified the United States and other nations about the Sarmat test.

Putin described the Sarmat as "the most powerful missile system in the world," claiming it can travel over 35,000 kilometers (21,748 miles). He promised that it "really will be delivered" to the military by the end of this year. Originally, authorities claimed the Sarmat would enter service in 2020. In February 2023, Putin stated this would happen by the end of that year, a promise he repeated in July. By October 2023, he claimed work on the Sarmat was "actually finished" and only bureaucratic details remained.

In early 2024, during a speech to the Federal Assembly, Putin claimed the first serial missiles had already been delivered to the troops. However, in October 2025, he contradicted himself by stating "it [Sarmat] is not on duty with us yet," though he added it would "appear on duty soon."

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Other officials, including the former head of Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov, and former Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, made similar claims about the missile’s deployment as early as 2023. Karakaev himself promised in 2021 that the systems would be on duty by the end of 2022.

Russia began developing the Sarmat 13 years ago to replace the Voevoda missiles, known as Satan by NATO. These are the oldest nuclear missiles in Russia's arsenal, placed in silos during the 1980s.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced the first successful Sarmat launch from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in April 2022, shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began.

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Last week, Alexander Gavrilov, the general director of the Krasmash plant that produces the Sarmat, was detained and sent to a pre-trial detention center on embezzlement charges.

Previously, Sarmat launches failed at the earliest stage. In the latest test, the rocket crashed immediately after takeoff, leaving a 70-meter crater and a vast purple cloud.

In September 2024, the missile exploded directly inside its silo at the Plesetsk range.

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