Russia finally succeeded in testing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to which NATO termed as “Satan 2”, the country’s military said.

The test site was selected to be the Plesetsk Cosmodrome located in northern Arkhangelsk province, very close to the Arctic Circle. From there the RS-28 “Sarmat” blasted off.

Russia has long been working to develop a new ICBM  to get the Soviet-designed Voyevoda (popularly known as “Satan” in the west) replaced. The development was a part of Russia’s attempts to replace aging and Soviet-era missiles that form the basis of its nuclear deterrent.

The Associated Press reported that the missile can carry weights of up to 10 nuclear warheads.

When asked, the Pentagon spokesman Johnny Michael said that the US has not received any notice regarding the launch.

“I would defer you to the Russian Ministry of Defense to explain where an ejection test falls in the very early stages of the development of an ICBM missile program, and how far the item in question actually travelled,” he said.

The total weight of the missile Sarmat is thought to be around 200 metric tonnes and the range too is bit longer than that of Satan. The increased range allows it to fly over the North or South Pole and easily strike targets at any point on the earth. This missile has been under development since at least 2011.

While during the display of Sarmat and an array of many other nuclear weapons earlier this month, President Vladimir Putin said that even most advanced missile defense systems of America can be rendered ineffective by them.

“No kind of, not even future missile defense systems will offer any trouble to the Russian rocket complex, Sarmat,” the Russian leader said during the nation speech.

He also stated that Sarmat is far more capable of carrying a bigger number of nuclear warheads, which can be termed as more powerful than the ones on Satan.

Talking about its acceleration, he compared the new ICBM with its predecessor and said that the new one was faster. This would make for the enemy to intercept in its most vulnerable phase after the launch.

He further said that Sarmat could carry an array of warheads with the capability of dodging missile defences.

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