Putin's Strategic Triad Priorities

On March 1, 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled several new nuclear technologies in his annual address to Russia's Federal Assembly, including systems such as a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV), nuclear-armed unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), and nuclear-powered cruise missile that would be the first such weapons deployed in the world.1 These systems, according to Putin, would ensure the invincibility of Russia's nuclear arsenal.During the speech, Putin played a video showing one of the new systems-the Sarmat ICBM striking targets in Florida, the home state of then-President Donald Trump.2 Four years later,Russia would use the conventional variant of one of their novel systems-the Kinzhal hypersonic
aeroballistic missile-to strike an underground arms depot in Western Ukraine.3 The use of Kinzhal as part of Russia's war on Ukraine came after deploying it to Kaliningrad and Syria-placing it near the borders of multiple NATO members.4