Russia Test-Fires Topol-M Intercontinental Ballistic Missile

The Russian Strategic Missile Forces test-fired on Saturday a Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile from a launch site in northwestern Russia, the country's Defense Ministry said.

"The (MBR) RT-2PM2 ,Topol-M', a silo-based intercontinental ballistic missile, was launched on November 1, at 9:20 a.m. [local time, or 6:20 GMT] from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome," the ministry said in a statement.

The launch was carried out to test Topol-M's technical features.

According to the statement, the missile demonstrated its high precision capabilities and overall good performance, hitting a designated target at a test range on Russia's Kamchatka peninsula.

The Defense Ministry said previously that Topol-M and RS-24 ballistic missiles would be the mainstays of the ground-based component of Russia's nuclear triad and would account for no less than 80 percent of the SMF's arsenal by 2016.