Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, said that Russia had deployed intercontinental ballistic rockets in Sarmat. President Vladimir Putin said once that the missiles would make the world think twice about combat.
According to The Moscow Times, Roscosmos’ general director Yuri Borisov told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti that “the Sarmat strategic complex” had been placed on combat duty.
Putin announced Sarmat (also known as “Satan II” in 2018) for the first time. The ballistic missile is capable of carrying 10 nuclear warheads, and it is intended to replace R-36 ICBMs known as Satan in NATO reporting.
Rebekah Koffler, a former Defense Intelligence Agency agent and president of Doctrine and Strategy Consulting, stated that “Putin’s strategic message to the United States is that the nuclear option in Ukraine still remains on the table.”
She said that Putin had “placed Russia’s nuclear forces in a special fighting regime soon after he invaded Ukraine, out of fear that the US or NATO might intervene on Ukraine’s behalf.” The fallback strategy is called the “escalate to de-escalate” strategy. This involves the detonation on the battlefield of a small-yield tactical nuclear warhead to deter US/NATO involvement.
Koffler, author of “Putin’s Playbook: Russia’s Secret Plan to Destroy America” who has briefed NATO, the National Security Council, and the Pentagon on Russia’s Nuclear Doctrine, said that Sarmat is “a strategic weapon, reserved for targets like the United States.”
“But Putin will never attack the US homeland in a kinetic way, and especially not with nuclear weapons. Unless, of course, Russia detects that we have attacked them first.” This Sarmat action is for deterrence,” she said.
Putin said that after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Sarmat will “reliably assure the security of Russia against external threats and make anyone who, under the influence of aggressive rhetoric, tries to threaten our nation, think twice,”
Koffler stated that many Russian media outlets, such as RIA Novosti and Gazeta, have published a translated English article claiming that Sarmat can wipe out London within six minutes.
“The deterrence is directed towards the UK, who are of course committed supporters of Ukraine,” Koffler said. “Putin will not attack London, or any NATO country unless Russian intelligence concludes Russia is about to be attacked by NATO,” Koffler said.
She and other national security professionals are “up all night” because of the fear that “unintended escalated.”
She explained, “In other words when a kinetic attack is authorized by accident because of a flawed intelligence assessment and conflict spirals into chaos,” This is what the US intelligence community’s wargaming has revealed. Miscalculations or misunderstandings have led to a local or regional conflict, such as that between Russia and Ukraine, which has now escalated and involved the US and NATO. The Russian view is that at this point it must go nuclear due to its inferiority in conventional warfare vis-à-vis NATO. It is for this reason that nuclear weapons have been at the center of Russia’s warfare doctrine. The longer the conflict continues, the greater the chance of a direct military war between Russia and America.
She continued, “Putin knows that Washington, and particularly the Biden administration, fear a nuclear war with Russia so he plays the nuclear card.” “It’s a dilemma for us.”
John Kirby, the White House National Security Council spokesperson, told reporters that he could not confirm Russian reports.
