The Russian Ministry of Defense released test launch footage Friday of a new intercontinental ballistic missile called the Sarmat and nicknamed "Satan 2."
CNN:
According to Russian state-run news agency Sputnik, the launch marked the second time the missile had been successfully fired. The first test was in December.
Sputnik also reported that the Sarmat missile is "capable of striking targets both via the North and South Poles."
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The Sarmat was one of the weapons Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned in a speech this month boasting of new weaponry he said would render NATO defenses "completely useless." US officials played down the threat.
After President Trump called Putin on March 20th to congratulate him on his reelection, Trump said the two men discussed the arms race.
The call had to do also with the fact that we will probably get together in the not too distant future so that we can discuss arms. We can discuss the arms race. As you know he made a statement that being in an arms race is not a great thing. That was right after the election. One of the first statements he made. And we are spending $700 billion this year in our military, and a lot of it is that we are going to remain stronger than any other nation in the world by far. We had a very good call, and I suspect that we'll probably be meeting in the not too distant future to discuss the arms race which is getting out of control. But we will never allow anybody to have anything even close to what we have, and also to discuss Ukraine and Syria and North Korea, and various other things. So I think probably we will be seeing President Putin in the not too distant future."
Russia's attempt to show off its military capability comes at the same time it continues to lash out at nations that have expelled diplomats in solidarity with the UK over the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, England on March 4th.
WaPo:
A parade of European ambassadors passed through Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Friday to receive formal protests and details about Moscow’s plans to expel more diplomats in a deepening crisis with the West.
The series of meetings — an astonishing display of European envoys arriving one after the other — marked the latest twist in tit-for-tat moves ...
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British Ambassador Laurie Bristow, who has been summoned to the ministry several times this month, was also called in Friday but did not comment on what transpired during the latest meeting.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said later in a statement that Britain had been told it would be subject to special retaliatory measures: The size of the British diplomatic mission in Russia will be limited to the size of Russia’s mission in Britain. The numbers were not specified.
AP:
Commenting on the Russian move to expel more U.K. diplomats, a spokeswoman for the British Foreign Office said "it's regrettable but in light of Russia's previous behavior, we anticipated a response."
"However, this doesn't change the facts of the matter: the attempted assassination of two people on British soil, for which there is no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian state was culpable," she said. "Russia is in flagrant breach of international law and the Chemical Weapons Convention and actions by countries around the world have demonstrated the depth of international concern."
While U.S. policy currently is aligned with Western allies, NBC News reports President Trump remains concerned about not angering Putin.
President Donald Trump's national security advisers spent months trying to convince him to sign off on a plan to supply new U.S. weapons to Ukraine to aid in the country's fight against Russian-backed separatists, according to multiple senior administration officials.
Yet when the president finally authorized the major policy shift, he told his aides not to publicly tout his decision, officials said. Doing so, Trump argued, might agitate Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the officials.
"He doesn't want us to bring it up," one White House official said. "It is not something he wants to talk about."
Russia releases 'Satan 2' missile test footage (CNN)
Russia ramps up diplomatic tensions, expels more UK envoys (AP)
One by one, European ambassadors learn they’re being expelled from Russia (WaPo)
Trump tells aides not to talk publicly about Russia policy moves (NBC News)