Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw one of his country's largest strategic military exercises in years for a second day on Wednesday, and, for a second day, something went wrong.
An intercontinental ballistic missile fired from the nuclear submarine Karelia in the Barents Sea veered wildly off course 98 seconds after the launching and self-destructed, a navy spokesman, Captain Igor Dygalo, said. The cause of the malfunction, he said, would be investigated.
The missile was supposed to have crossed the Arctic and landed in a missile range in Kamchatka in the far eastern region, but instead exploded in the upper atmosphere over the Barents.
PHOTO: AP
On Tuesday, two missiles from the submarine Novomoskovsk in the Barents failed to launch -- for reasons that are still in dispute -- as Putin watched from the deck of another submarine.
Officials had described the planned launchings on Tuesday as a centerpiece of the exercises, which involved Russia's strategic nuclear forces. On Tuesday, Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov denied initial reports that the missiles had malfunctioned.
He said that the missile tests had always been planned as simulations, not as live fire exercises. But Kommersant and Izvestia both reported Wednesday that the launchings were aborted because of a malfunction in one of the missiles. Both newspapers reported that the navy was trying to cover up an embarrassing failure.
Putin's visit to the exercises -- much publicized and intensely covered by state television -- came just weeks before the March 14 presidential election and appeared intended to highlight his role as the commander-in-chief of a revived Russian military.
Pavel Felgenhauer, a military analyst and journalist, said the glitches in the exercises reflected the aging of Russia's ballistic missiles, many of them nearly 30 years old.
"With such old missiles, mis-haps do happen," he said. "They have happened before. This time the PR surrounding the president and the presidential campaign meant more attention was paid."
As the sun sets on another scorching Yangon day, the hot and bothered descend on the Myanmar city’s parks, the coolest place to spend an evening during yet another power blackout. A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted Southeast Asia this week, sending the mercury to 45°C and prompting thousands of schools to suspend in-person classes. Even before the chaos and conflict unleashed by the military’s 2021 coup, Myanmar’s creaky and outdated electricity grid struggled to keep fans whirling and air conditioners humming during the hot season. Now, infrastructure attacks and dwindling offshore gas reserves mean those who cannot afford expensive diesel
Does Argentine President Javier Milei communicate with a ghost dog whose death he refuses to accept? Forced to respond to questions about his mental health, the president’s office has lashed out at “disrespectful” speculation. Twice this week, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni was asked about Milei’s English Mastiff, Conan, said to have died seven years ago. Milei, 53, had Conan cloned, and today is believed to own four copies he refers to as “four-legged children.” Or is it five? In an interview with CNN this month, Milei referred to his five dogs, whose faces and names he had engraved on the presidential baton. Conan,
French singer Kendji Girac, who was seriously injured by a gunshot this week, wanted to “fake” his suicide to scare his partner who was threatening to leave him, prosecutors said on Thursday. The 27-year-old former winner of France’s version of The Voice was found wounded after police were called to a traveler camp in Biscarrosse on France’s southwestern coast. Girac told first responders he had accidentally shot himself while tinkering with a Colt .45 automatic pistol he had bought at a junk shop, a source said. On Thursday, regional prosecutor Olivier Janson said, citing the singer, that he wanted to “fake” his suicide
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed his pledge to replace India’s religion-based marriage and inheritance laws with a uniform civil code if he returns to office for a third term, a move that some minority groups have opposed. In an interview with the Times of India listing his agenda, Modi said his government would push for making the code a reality. “It is clear that separate laws for communities are detrimental to the health of society,” he said in the interview published yesterday. “We cannot be a nation where one community is progressing with the support of the Constitution while the other