Russia Responds to Cheney Threats With Missile Tests

May 30, 2007 (LPAC) - As reported in Ria Novosti news wires already late yesterday night, Russia carried out successful test-firings of two missile types yesterday. One was a new Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, RS-24, from Plesetsk (north-west Russia) to Kamchatka (far east), over a distance of 5,500 kilometers. The defense ministry in Moscow announced that the RS-24, which can carry 10 warheads each, will be able to outflank the planned US missile shield. The RS-24, 40 of which will be made available for the missile forces each year, will replace the older generation RS-18 and RS-20 missiles.

Furthermore, also yesterday, First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Sergey Ivanov watched the successful test-firing of a new cruise missile from a mobile launcher. The new type of cruise missile, with a range of 500 kilometers, could reach and destroy the planned US missile defense stations in eastern Europe, if fired from the far-western Russian enclave on the Baltic coast, Kaliningrad, Russian news wires have pointed out.