On Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin announced the successful test of Russia's Poseidon nuclear-powered super torpedo. According to military analysts, this weapon has the potential to cause widespread destruction in coastal areas by generating massive, radioactive ocean waves.
With U.S. President Donald Trump adopting a firmer position and stronger language toward Russia, Putin has publicly demonstrated his nuclear capabilities. This was evidenced by the October 21 test of the new Burevestnik cruise missile and subsequent nuclear launch exercises on October 22.
Limited official details are available about the Poseidon, which is named after the Greek deity of the sea. However, it is fundamentally a nuclear-ready hybrid device, described as a combination of a torpedo and a drone.
Speaking on Tuesday, while sharing tea and cakes with Russian soldiers who were injured in the Ukraine conflict at a Moscow hospital, Putin confirmed that the test had occurred on that day.
Putin stated, "For the first time, we successfully achieved not only its launch using a launch engine from a carrier submarine but also the activation of the nuclear power unit, allowing the device to operate for a specified duration.
"This has no equal," he claimed, emphasizing that the Poseidon cannot be intercepted. Analysts estimate its range at 10,000 km (6,200 miles) and its speed at roughly 185 km per hour.
The purpose of the Burevestnik and Poseidon tests is to send an unambiguous message: Russia, as stated by Putin, will not yield to Western pressure regarding the war in Ukraine.
This demonstration is significant for Trump, who previously dismissed Russia as a "paper tiger" for its slow progress in Ukraine. The message conveyed is that Russia remains a serious global military rival, particularly in the domain of nuclear weapons, and that Moscow's proposals for nuclear arms control deserve consideration.
POSEIDON AND THE REVIVED NUCLEAR ARMS RACE
The emergence of the Poseidon comes during what Putin describes as a global arms race, mainly among the United States, Russia, and China, to update and expand their nuclear capabilities.
Russian media reports indicate that the Poseidon, designated as Kanyon by NATO, has dimensions of 20 meters in length, 1.8 meters in diameter, and a weight of 100 tonnes.
Experts in arms control suggest this weapon violates most established norms for nuclear deterrence and classification. Their estimates indicate it could carry a two megaton warhead and potentially be driven by a liquid-metal-cooled reactor.
Putin claimed that the Poseidon's power surpasses that of "even our most promising Sarmat intercontinental-range missile," which is also referred to as SS-X-29 or Satan II.
Since introducing the Poseidon and Burevestnik in 2018, Putin has framed them as a countermeasure to the U.S. decision to construct a missile defense shield—following Washington's 2001 unilateral exit from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty—and to the expansion of NATO eastward.
Following Russia's Burevestnik test, Trump commented that Putin ought to focus on ending the war in Ukraine rather than testing a nuclear-powered missile.
