Little is known about the Burevestnik, which translates as “Storm Petrel” and was code-named Skyfall by NATO.
On Russia’s defense ministry website, Burevestnik is described as a nuclear-powered cruise missile with an “unlimited range.”
Its nuclear propulsion could allow it to cover a longer distance and stay airborne for a much longer time than other missiles, but may also make it more unreliable, according to experts.
Animation shared in 2018 shows the missile flying around the planet, bypassing missile defense systems and eventually reaching the Pacific Coast of North America. But there have been doubts about how quickly Russia could develop a major new weapon of this scale and how easy it would be to handle.
A suspected failed test of Burevestnik in 2019 killed five scientists and caused a radiation spike in a nearby city.
Technologically, the weapon is not that much of a challenge, said Alberque, but safely deploying it is much more difficult. “There is a reason the U.S. abandoned this technology in the Cold War. It’s just a bad idea,” he added.
The failed test in 2019 illustrates the dangers of this technology, he added.
Talking about its testing may primarily be an attempt to intimidate the West and force concessions on Ukraine, but Moscow withdrawing from the nuclear test ban treaty would be a huge deal, Alberque said. Russia is part of the global monitoring system that helps detect nuclear explosions and losing Russian sensors would deal “a hammer blow” to that ability, he added.
According to the United Nations, the Soviet Union’s last nuclear test took place in late 1990, so the resumption of nuclear testing by Putin’s Russia would be a major development that could further escalate global tensions.
Putin’s rhetoric follows months of nuclear threats from some of Russia’s most ardent war supporters.
Since the early months of the invasion, pundits on Russian state TV have called for nuclear strikes on Western capitals in response to their military aid to Ukraine. Former President Dmitry Medvedev, now the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council, has also promised to unleash Russia’s nuclear arsenal on multiple occasions.
But it appears one of the Kremlin’s full-time nuclear war-mongers went a step too far this week.
Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of Russia’s English-language RT network, suggested Sunday that there is no need for nuclear strikes on Washington when a thermonuclear explosion over Russian territory, like Siberia in Russia’s far east, would knock out all radioelectronics and satellite systems, in a major blow to the West. “Nothing so terrible would happen” to the area or locals, she said, adding that it’s one of the “most humane” options she sees available.
The comment sparked outrage from some Russian officials, including those in Siberia.
The Kremlin has tried to distance itself from Simonyan’s comments, saying she doesn’t hold any government positions so her words don’t always reflect its official position.
Simonyan appeared to backtrack on her words after the wave of outrage, saying she never actually suggested “any such heresy.”