Russian President Vladimir Putin boasted about his country's prospective nuclear weapons Thursday, saying they are years and even decades ahead of foreign designs.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, second left, toasts after the graduates of Russian military academies in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, June 28, 2018. (Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Speaking before the graduates of Russian military academies, Putin said the new weapons represent a quantum leap in the nation's military capability.
"A number of our weapons systems are years, and, perhaps, decades ahead of foreign analogues," Putin told young military officers who gathered in an ornate Kremlin hall. "Modern weapons contribute to a multifold increase in the Russian military potential."
The tough statement comes as Putin is preparing for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump set for July 16 in Helsinki, Finland. Russia-U.S. relations have plunged to post-Cold War lows over the Ukrainian crisis, the war in Syria, the allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and differences over nuclear arms control issues.
"We have achieved a real breakthrough thanks to the colossal efforts by science and design bureaus and industries, a real feat by workers, engineers and scientists," Putin told the officers.
The Russian leader singled out the new Avangard hypersonic vehicle and the new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, which are set to enter service in the next few years. Putin also mentioned the Kinzhal hypersonic missile that has already been put on duty with the units of Russia's Southern Military District.
FILE - In this video grab file photo provided by RU-RTR Russian television via AP television on Thursday, March 1, 2018, a computer simulation shows the Avangard hypersonic vehicle being released from booster rockets. (RU-RTR Russian Television via AP, File)
Those systems were among an array of new nuclear weapons the Russian leader presented in March amid tensions with the West.
Putin said then that the Avangard has an intercontinental range and can fly in the atmosphere at a speed 20 times the speed of sound. The Russian leader added that the weapon can change both its course and its altitude en route to a target, making it "absolutely invulnerable to any air or missile defense means."
He said Avangard has been designed using new composite materials to withstand temperatures of up to 2,000 Celsius (3,632 Fahrenheit) resulting from a flight through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, second left, toasts after the graduates of Russian military academies in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, June 28, 2018. (Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
The Sarmat is intended to replace the Soviet-designed Voyevoda, the world's heaviest ICBM, which is known as "Satan" in the West and which carries 10 nuclear warheads.
Putin said in March that Sarmat weighs 200 metric tons (220 tons) and has a higher range than Satan, allowing it to fly over the North or the South Poles and strike targets anywhere in the world. He noted that Sarmat also carries a bigger number of nuclear warheads, which are more powerful than the ones on Satan.
MOSCOW (AP) — Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will remain jailed on espionage charges until at least late June, after a Moscow court on Tuesday rejected his appeal that sought to end his pretrial detention.
The 32-year-old U.S. citizen was detained in late March 2023 while on a reporting trip and has spent over a year in jail, with authorities routinely extending his time behind bars and rejecting his appeals. Last month, his pretrial detention was continued yet again — until June 30 — in a ruling that he and his lawyers later challenged. A Moscow appellate court rejected it Tuesday.
In the courtroom on Tuesday, Gerhskovich, wearing a white T-shirt and an open checked shirt, looked relaxed, at times laughing and chatting with members of his legal team.
His arrest in the city of Yekaterinburg rattled journalists in Russia, where authorities have not detailed what, if any, evidence they have to support the espionage charges.
Gershkovich and his employer have denied the allegations, and the U.S. government has declared him to be wrongfully detained.
Analysts have pointed out that Moscow may be using jailed Americans as bargaining chips in soaring U.S.-Russian tensions over the Kremlin’s military operation in Ukraine. At least two U.S. citizens arrested in Russia in recent years — including WNBA star Brittney Griner — have been exchanged for Russians jailed in the U.S.
In December, the U.S. State Department said it had made a significant offer to secure the release of Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, another American imprisoned in Russia on espionage charges, which it said Moscow had rejected.
Officials did not describe the offer, although Russia has been said to be seeking the release of Vadim Krasikov, who was given a life sentence in Germany in 2021 for the killing in Berlin of Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili, a 40-year-old Georgian citizen of Chechen descent who had fought Russian troops in Chechnya and later claimed asylum in Germany.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, asked this year about releasing Gershkovich, appeared to refer to Krasikov by pointing to a man imprisoned by a U.S. ally for “liquidating a bandit” who had allegedly killed Russian soldiers during separatist fighting in Chechnya.
Beyond that hint, Russian officials have kept mum about the talks. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov repeatedly said that while “certain contacts” on swaps continue, “they must be carried out in absolute silence.”
Gershkovich is the first American reporter to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since September 1986, when Nicholas Daniloff, a Moscow correspondent for U.S. News and World Report, was arrested by the KGB.
Daniloff was released without charge 20 days later in a swap for an employee of the Soviet Union’s U.N. mission who was arrested by the FBI, also on spying charges.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich gestures in a glass cage in a courtroom at the First Appeals Court of General Jurisdiction in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. A court will considers an appeal against the arrest of WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich who was detained on espionage charges in Yekaterinburg last year. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich speaks with his lawyers standing in a glass cage in a courtroom at the First Appeals Court of General Jurisdiction in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. A court will considers an appeal against the arrest of WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich who was detained on espionage charges in Yekaterinburg last year. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a glass cage in a courtroom at the First Appeals Court of General Jurisdiction in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. A court will considers an appeal against the arrest of WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich who was detained on espionage charges in Yekaterinburg last year. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a glass cage in a courtroom at the First Appeals Court of General Jurisdiction in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. A court will considers an appeal against the arrest of WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich who was detained on espionage charges in Yekaterinburg last year. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich speaks with his lawyers standing in a glass cage in a courtroom at the First Appeals Court of General Jurisdiction in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. A court will considers an appeal against the arrest of WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich who was detained on espionage charges in Yekaterinburg last year. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a glass cage in a courtroom at the First Appeals Court of General Jurisdiction in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. A court will consider an appeal against the arrest of WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was detained on espionage charges in Yekaterinburg last year. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a glass cage in a courtroom at the First Appeals Court of General Jurisdiction in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. A court will considers an appeal against the arrest of WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich who was detained on espionage charges in Yekaterinburg last year. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich speaks with his lawyers standing in a glass cage in a courtroom at the First Appeals Court of General Jurisdiction in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. A court will considers an appeal against the arrest of WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich who was detained on espionage charges in Yekaterinburg last year. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich speaks with his lawyer standing in a glass cage in a courtroom at the First Appeals Court of General Jurisdiction in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. A court will considers an appeal against the arrest of WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich who was detained on espionage charges in Yekaterinburg last year. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a glass cage in a courtroom at the First Appeals Court of General Jurisdiction in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. A court will consider an appeal against the arrest of WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was detained on espionage charges in Yekaterinburg last year. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
