New Delhi: Russia has conducted a test launch of a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk State Test Cosmodrome, just days after the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John Ratcliffe, made an unannounced visit to Moscow for talks with senior Russian intelligence officials. The timing places the missile test against a backdrop of heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington, although there is no official indication that the launch was linked to Ratcliffe’s visit.
The Russian defence ministry said the launch was carried out by units of the strategic missile forces as part of a training exercise. According to a post on the ministry’s official Telegram channel, the missile was launched from Plesetsk in northwestern Russia, with training warheads travelling to the designated impact area at the Kura training ground on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
The Russian ministry said the exercise involved the redeployment of a mobile launcher battery to a designated launch position, followed by preparations for and execution of the missile launch. It added that the objective was to verify the tactical, technical and flight characteristics of the missile system.
Russia said all assigned objectives were completed and described the missile’s flight as following a “flawless trajectory”.
The Plesetsk-to-Kura trajectory spans thousands of kilometres across Russia, demonstrating the strategic missile forces’ ability to conduct a long-range launch involving a mobile missile unit. The exercise also tested the operational sequence involved in moving a mobile launcher into position and carrying out a launch.
The test comes four days after Ratcliffe travelled to Moscow on August 25 in a previously unannounced visit. Russia’s foreign intelligence service chief, Sergei Naryshkin, confirmed that he held a working-level meeting with the CIA director, while the Kremlin said the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, was informed about the talks. Neither side publicly disclosed the details of the discussions.
The purpose of Ratcliffe’s visit has remained officially undisclosed. However, citing people familiar with the discussions, the BBC reported that Washington was concerned about possible Russian escalation involving Nato members, particularly Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Other reporting indicated that Russia’s military and economic support for Iran was also discussed. These accounts have not been officially confirmed by Washington or Moscow.
The US president, Donald Trump, described Ratcliffe’s trip as “semi-routine”, while Russian officials have also played down the significance of the meeting. Naryshkin characterized his discussion with Ratcliffe as a working-level contact involving sensitive matters.
Ratcliffe’s visit was the first known trip to Moscow by a US CIA director since William Burns travelled there in November 2021, months before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Burns had warned Russian officials at the time against military action against Ukraine, making Ratcliffe’s return to Moscow the first such visit in nearly five years.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Friday that Kyiv had received information from the US about several meetings held in Moscow in recent days. Reuters reported, citing two sources, that Ratcliffe had raised the possibility of a Russian operation against a Nato member during his Moscow meeting, although it was unclear whether this was the main purpose of his visit. One source also said the talks covered Russia’s support for Iran.