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By Brendan Cole
Senior Reporter
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Russia has started trialing its most advanced nuclear-powered submarine which can carry hypersonic cruise missiles as Moscow ups its naval arms race with NATO.
The vessel Arkhangelsk was tested for the first time in the White Sea on the north-west coast of Russia on June 11, according to the Russian maritime news outlet Paluba.
This was a day before Russian vessels docked in Havana, Cuba, for five days which prompted an ex-National Security Council (NSC) director to tell Newsweek could signal a regional assertion of force by Moscow that would be "greatly destabilizing to the U.S."
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An unnamed source told state news agency TASS that the Arkhangelsk, which is equipped with superior stealth capabilities, advanced sonar systems, and better combat systems than previous Russian subs, "recently went to sea for testing," and this will continue for "several months."
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Newsweek has contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment.
First floated at the end of November following eight years of construction at the Sevmash Shipyard in Severodvinsk, Aleksei Rakhmanov, head of the United Ship-Building Corporation, told the state news agency RIA Novosti that the Yasen-M class (Project 885M) vessel could carry Kalibr cruise missiles. These sea-launched missiles have been used by Russian forces to hit targets throughout Ukraine in Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion.
Rakhmanov also said in August 2023 that the subs will be equipped with Tsirkons (Zircons) which are hypersonic missiles with a 620 mile range whose capabilities Putin has boasted about and which were reportedly used for the first time in Ukraine in February. It can also carry Onyx cruise missiles.
A Tsirkon was tested for the first time from the Yasen-class submarine Severodvinsk in October 2021, from a submerged position around 120 feet deep.
The Arkhangelsk is "versatile" thanks to its ability for anti-ship, anti-submarine, and land-attack missions, according to news outlet Overt Defense, which said it demonstrates "the advanced technological strides in Russia's naval engineering."
Expected to join the Russian Navy by the end of this year, it is the fifth submarine in this series which follows a line of vessels also named after Russian cities, which include the Severodvinsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk and Kazan.
The Kazan sailed this week to Cuba in what was believed to be a way to tweak the nose of the U.S. Along with other naval vessels, it docked in the port of Havana between June 12 and June 17 after Moscow deployed warships and aircraft to the Caribbean Sea for military drills.
Michael Allen, a former senior director at the National Security Council (NSC), said that a mere port call in Havana by the Russian vessels would not be a threat, although installing spy or satellite dishes would be more worrying.
"If Russia is trying to assert themselves as a presence in our hemisphere, that could be greatly destabilizing to the U.S.," he told Newsweek in emailed comments.
"We need to use our intelligence to study what the Russians are up to in our hemisphere," added Allen, managing director of Beacon Global Strategies, an advisory firm. "We obviously do not want any kind of repeat of the Cuban Missile Crisis, though it is unlikely Russia would try to put nukes in Cuba."
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