Russia has deployed the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles that President Vladimir Putin once said would make the world “think twice” for combat, its Roscosmos space agency said Friday.
“The Sarmat strategic complex has been put on combat duty,” Roscosmos general director Yuri Borisov said, Russia's RIA Novosti news agency reported, according to the Moscow Times.
Putin first announced Sarmat, also called “Satan II,” in 2018. The ballistic missile system is capable of carrying at least 10 nuclear warheads and is intended to replace the R-36 ICBMs that are known by the NATO reporting name of Satan.
“Putin is clearly strategic messaging to the United States and NATO that nuclear option in Ukraine remains on the table,” Rebekah Koffler, president of Doctrine & Strategy Consulting and a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer, told Fox News Digital.