00:21Russia has sent a powerful strategic signal
00:25just days after a surprise U.S. intelligence visit to Moscow.
00:31Russian strategic missile forces conducted a training combat launch
00:36of a mobile solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile
00:41from the Plesset State Testing Cosmodrome in northwestern Russia.
00:46The missile traveled more than 6,700 kilometers
00:50before its dummy warheads reached the designated Kura test range
00:55on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula in the Far East.
00:59Moscow says the launch was successful.
01:02The missile followed its planned trajectory,
01:05and all assigned objectives were completed.
01:09But the timing of the launch is drawing attention.
01:12The test came shortly after an unannounced visit by CIA director John Ratcliffe,
01:18adding a dramatic layer to an already tense U.S.-Russia relationship.
01:24The launch also reportedly came days after unverified reports of Ukrainian drone activity near Plessetsk,
01:33one of Russia's most important military space and missile testing sites.
01:38Russia has not officially identified the missile model.
01:42However, independent experts have assessed that the missile was likely the RS-24 Yars,
01:49one of the most important weapons in Russia's land-based strategic nuclear arsenal.
01:55The Yars is a mobile solid-fuel three-stage intercontinental ballistic missile,
02:01designed to carry multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles, or MIRVs.
02:08In simple terms, a single missile can potentially carry multiple warheads capable of striking separate targets.
02:17The Yars family is also reported to have a range of roughly 10,500 to 12,000 kilometers,
02:25putting targets across much of the globe within its theoretical reach.
02:29The Russian Defense Ministry released footage showing the mobile launcher being moved into a remote, forested location before the launch.
02:39The exercise was designed to practice the deployment, preparation, and firing of the mobile missile system,
02:46an important test of Russia's strategic nuclear readiness.
02:50And Moscow insists this was not the test of a brand-new weapon.
02:56Instead, officials described it as a routine combat training launch,
03:00intended to verify the system's tactical, technical, and flight characteristics.
03:06Russia also reportedly notified the United States more than 24 hours before the launch,
03:13in line with existing nuclear risk reduction arrangements.
03:17That detail is important because the launch, despite its dramatic appearance,
03:23was not presented as a surprise nuclear attack or an escalation to an operational strike.
03:29Still, the message is difficult to ignore.
03:33With Washington and Moscow locked in intense geopolitical tensions,
03:37the appearance of a nuclear-capable ICBM launch so soon after the CIA chief's Moscow visit is bound to attract
03:46global attention.
03:48The launch demonstrates that Russia continues to maintain and exercise its strategic missile forces,
03:55including highly mobile systems designed to survive and respond even under extreme circumstances.
04:02And while there is no evidence that the missile launch was directly ordered as a response to Ratcliffe's Moscow visit,
04:10the sequence of events has created a striking headline.
04:14A top U.S. intelligence official arrives in Moscow,
04:17and days later, Russia fires a nuclear-capable ICBM.
04:23For now, Moscow calls it a training exercise.
04:26But amid rising tensions between Russia and the United States,
04:30every strategic missile launch carries a message far beyond the test range.
