Vladimir Putin is ready to test a hypersonic missile he has previously declared to be “unstoppable” during the course of joint military drills with China and South Africa. A frigate carrying the Zircon weapon has been send to the 10-day exercise in the Indian Ocean, which will be ongoing during the first anniversary of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
The confirmation of the drills sends a signal to Western leaders on the day they gather in Germany for the Munich Security Conference.
The ship, emblazoned with the letters Z and V, docked in Cape Town last weekend.
Earlier this week, Russia’s state news agency, TASS, said the drill would involve the navies from South Africa, Russia and China and take place in the waters between the town of Durban and Richards Bay, located at a distance of 87 nautical miles from each other.
A similar naval exercise took place off South Africa’s southwestern Atlantic coast close to Cape Town in November 2019.
Putin has claimed Zircon missiles, capable of travelling in excess of 7,000mph, have “no equivalent in any country in the world”.
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