Watch Out World: Russia Conducts Successful Test-Fire Of Long-Range Missile From Nuclear Submarine

U.S. Virginia-class nuclear attack submarine USS Hawaii is berthed at a dock at the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, August 22, 2014. The U.S. navy said on Friday that the country was looking to increase the quality of the submarines deployed — U.S. Virginia-class nuclear attack submarine USS Hawaii is berthed at a dock at the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, August 22, 2014. Reuters/Stringer

Russia has successfully conducted a test-fire of a long-range missile from one of its nuclear submarines, stoking further tensions between the country and the west.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the rocket launched from a submarine beneath the Barents Sea precisely hit its target which was located at the Kura range in the Pacific's Kamchatka peninsula. The ICBM test firing was conducted by the Russian submarine Tula.

A Sineva intercontinental ballistic missile, which can carry up to four supersonic warheads, was used during the test. Such missiles have a range over 7,400 miles. It has likewise been designed to launch from Delta IV class submarines capable of carrying up to 16 Sineva missiles.

This the second such test conducted by Russia in less than a week. On Oct 29, it also test fired a Bulava missile from a nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea. A Bulava missile can carry up to 10 hypersonic, independently guided, maneouverable warheads with a yield of between 100 and 150 kilotons each. Its range can reach over 5,600 miles.

Such testings and display of its military arsenal and power are tools Russia will not have second thoughts to utilise in its quest for supremacy over the region, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö has warned. He warned "a new kind of cold war" has been set into motion by Russia against European nations. Reports have stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin is now eyeing Finland, which it shares with an 830-mile (1,300km) land border that Russia wants to regain.

Finland used to be part of the Russian empire. But it declared its independence after the Russian revolution in 1917. But it still got embroiled in a mess with the Soviet Union in at least two separate conflicts during the second world war. It survived both. Finland, during the cold war, implemented an "active neutrality" to shun Moscow from its shores.

Russian jets have been particularly busy flying over the international airspace of NATO member-nations. RAF Typhoons, Finnish Hornets, Swedish surveillance planes as well as US and Canadian jets off Alaska have all scrambled to intercept the "provocative" air carriers.

Finland blamed the EU and the US for Russia's growing aggression and incursions because they have been soft and gentle. "A bigger factor is the consistent softness shown by the EU and the US when it comes to Russian actions. They [the Russians] have got away with murder since the first Chechen war and especially since [the Russian military intervention in] Georgia [in 2008]," the Guardian quoted an unidentified influential government insider in Helsinki.

Finland is not a member of NATO. But Niinistö said they support Nato, even contributing to the latter's operations in Afghanistan.