Putin said Satan II missile is four times more powerful than the West’s best, then his top diplomat stepped in with a chilling warning for NATO

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has issued a stark warning that the likelihood of a head-on clash between NATO and Russia is growing, as tensions rise around the deployment of the RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile. Ryabkov, who has held his position since 2008, made the remarks following Vladimir Putin’s May 12 confirmation that the weapon had been successfully tested. As first highlighted by LADbible, the Sarmat, referred to by NATO as Satan II, is now slated for regular combat deployment by the end of 2026.

Ryabkov told the TASS state news agency that talk of a high-intensity war is widespread across European capitals, characterizing it as an escalatory narrative that is provoking Russia and risking what he described as potentially catastrophic consequences. He stated that the basic political and military-political foundation for strategic dialogue simply does not exist right now, adding that there are no conditions for launching substantive arms control discussions. The diplomat also pointed to recent war games conducted by European countries as a primary source of frustration for Moscow, arguing that the maneuvers are accompanied by hostile anti-Russian rhetoric and are part of a broader process of Europe’s accelerated militarization.

Russia currently maintains the largest nuclear arsenal in the world. According to the International Campaign to End Nuclear Weapons, the country holds approximately 5,459 functional warheads, placing it just ahead of the United States, which holds approximately 5,277. The Russian Foreign Ministry has previously warned of the risks of direct military confrontation between nuclear powers, and Ryabkov’s latest comments continue that line of signaling.

The Sarmat is built to outmaneuver every missile defense system in existence

As detailed by Wikipedia, the RS-28 Sarmat is a super-heavy, three-stage, liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile designed to replace the aging R-36M system. It weighs approximately 208 tonnes and stands as tall as a 14-storey tower block. Putin has claimed the weapon’s total warhead yield is more than four times greater than any existing Western equivalent, and that its range exceeds 35,000 kilometres, allowing it to travel via suborbital trajectories and approach targets from unexpected directions, including over the South Pole.

The missile is capable of carrying up to 16 lighter MIRV warheads or several Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles, and its design incorporates a Fractional Orbital Bombardment capability intended to bypass missile defense systems positioned in the northern United States. Amid wider debate over Western responses to Russia’s nuclear posture, NATO briefing filmmakers on security drew controversy in May after invitees said they were being asked to contribute to what amounted to propaganda.

The development program has not been without setbacks. A significant test failure occurred in September 2024 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, where satellite imagery showed a large crater at a launch silo. A video circulated in November 2025 also appeared to show a missile deviating from its course before crashing near the launch site in Orenburg Oblast. Despite these failures, Putin announced a successful test on May 12, 2026, and Russian leadership now claims the system will be ready for combat duty before the year is out.

With the last remaining nuclear arms treaty between Russia and the United States having expired in February, no caps currently exist on either country’s nuclear arsenal for the first time in more than half a century. The absence of any framework for strategic dialogue, as described by Ryabkov, has deepened that gap. Efforts to exert pressure on Moscow through other means have also stalled, with Russia sanctions stalled in Congress over disputes about where the legislation should originate.