The Russian Two-Front Threat

"The decisive tests are now complete."

"[I've ordered the preparation of' infrastructure to put this weapon into service in the Russian armed forces."

"[This missile is a] unique creation that no one else in the world possesses."

"[The Burevestnik has] unlimited range."

Russian President Vladimir Putin  

Reuters

 

The development by the Russian military of the nuclear-powered missile named the 'Burevestnik' was originally announced in 2018, along with a number of other technically-advanced military weaponry that President Putin introduced to the world, with gloating satisfaction. It has only now been refined and proven through test flights that it is more than capable of living up to the descriptions used by Mr. Putin those seven years ago. 

 

The missile flew for 15 hours during the October 21st, (and last) test before its announcement as having fulfilled its promise. The Burevestnik travelled 14,000 kilometres, according to Russia's military chief of staff Valery Gerasimov, who assured that that was not the weapon's upper limit. "The technical characteristics of the Burevestnik allow it to be used with guaranteed precision against highly protected sites located at any distance", he added.

 

The Burevestnik cruise missile. 1tv.ru

 

The missile indeed has formidable powers; in that it has the capability to evade all defence systems. Unspoken among the details of the missile's technological feats is a future and looming interaction with the United States whose own arsenal of similar weaponry constitute a potential threat to Russia. The announcement, amidst the grinding war that Moscow imposed on Kyiv, in an imperialist territorial threat made real, sees Mr. Putin glorying in the prospect of enlarging Russian geographic holdings, while holding its greatest adversary at bay with the threat of a bold new, advanced weapon awaiting deployment.

 

The peace talks that U.S. President Donald Trump was so confident would lead to a cessation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict have led nowhere while incidentally gifting Russia with delays enabling it to further consolidate its position in Ukraine as the war grinds on with territorial losses for Ukraine, even while the Ukrainian military makes extraordinarily good use of its own new drone weaponry that have proven to be useful in hitting targets within Russia itself, such as oil and energy terminals.

 

Preparation of the Burevestnik cruise missile for testing. Russian Defense Ministry

 

The lack of movement on Russia's part regarding concessions to Ukraine appear to have finally convinced Mr. Trump that his Russian counterpart was merely stringing him along for time, and making him look amateurishly foolish in his trust that Mr. Putin would be amenable to reason. Now that it is clear to him that Russia means what it says when it set out to 'rescue' Ukrainians from their 'neo-Nazi' government and bring a fifth of the country under its aegis, sanctions were slapped on Russia's two largest oil companies. 

 

Adamant that the Donbas in its entirety is Russia's, Mr. Putin made it clear he would not set a timetable or an end to the conflict. "We are not going to align anything with any dates or events -- we will base our actions on military rationality." 

"[Mr. Putin's announcement of a nuclear-powered cruise missile test is] not appropriate, [given Washington’s efforts to negotiate a peace deal in Ukraine]."

"He ought to get the war [in Ukraine] ended. A war that should have taken one week is now soon in its fourth year."

"That's what he ought to do instead of testing missiles."

U.S. President Donald Trump