Russia test fires 'Satan Two' ballistic missile

Russia successfully testest its Satan 2 nuclear missile on Friday, the country's defence ministry said.

The rocket, also known as RS-28 Sarmat, was fired from the Plestek Cosmodrome and travelled nearly 5800km before hitting a target on the Kura test range.

Three submarines capable of carrying nuclear warheads also carried out successful ballistic missile tests, while three bombers hit ground targets with cruise missiles, the Daily Mail reports.

Two of the submarine-launched missiles were fired in the Okhotsk Sea, north of Japan and close to North Korea, the Russian military said.

A third missile was fired from the Barents Sea, in the Arctic Ocean.

Russian military forces "have carried out an exercise to manage its strategic nuclear forces", the ministry said.

Strategic bombers Tu-160, Tu-95MC and Tu-22M3 also took off from several Russian air bases and launched cruise missiles.

The rockets hit "ground-based" targets in Kamchatka, eastern Russia, in the Komi Republic, in the north, and on Russian military terrain in Kazakhstan.

"All objectives of the training have been successfully completed," the ministry said.

The Sarmat next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile can "beat any defences" and wipe out entire countries, according to Russia's military.

The weapon has been in the pipeline since 2009 and is now ready after several setbacks. Initial trials will be carried out before the end of the year, sources claim.

The weapon could by in use by 2019 or 2020.

It would be capable of delivering warheads of 40 megatons - 2000 times as powerful as the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

In early September, Russia test fired two more next-generation nuclear missiles, named Topol, from the Plestek Cosmodrome.

The launches book-ended the huge Zapad war games with Belarus on Nato's eastern flank, which caused concern among the military alliance.

On Thursday, Nato members challenged Russia over "discrepancies" concerning the number of troops involved and the figures officially announced by Moscow.

"There is a discrepancy between what Russia briefed before the exercise and the actual numbers and the scale and the scope of the exercise," Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg told reporters after a meeting of the Nato-Russia Council (NRC).

Nato launched its own military drills in response, concerned that Russia was using Zapad as an excuse to mass forces on Europe's borders.

Moscow claimed thousands of soldiers were involved in the drills, but Nato chiefs said the number topped 10,000.