Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a successful test launch of the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (RS-28 Sarmat, known in the West as "Satan II"), calling it the world's most powerful missile and saying it will enter combat service before the end of the year. Putin claimed the nuclear-capable weapon has a suborbital range exceeding 35,000 km, carries a warhead more than four times more powerful than any Western equivalent, and can defeat all existing and future missile defence systems. The test carries broader significance as it comes after the February expiry of New START — the last treaty between Russia and the United States capping strategic nuclear warheads and delivery systems — leaving the world's two largest nuclear powers without formal arms-control constraints for the first time in over half a century.