Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday (October 29) that Russia had tested a Poseidon nuclear-powered super autonomous torpedo and that it had been a great success.

There are few confirmed details about the Poseidon in the public domain but it is essentially an autonomous nuclear-capable torpedo which is capable of triggering radioactive ocean swells to render coastal cities uninhabitable.

Putin, drinking tea with Russian soldiers wounded in the Ukraine war at a hospital in Moscow, said that the test had taken place on Tuesday.

"For the first time, we managed not only to launch it with a launch engine from a carrier submarine, but also to launch the nuclear power unit on which this device passed a certain amount of time," Putin said. "There is nothing like this."

"This is a huge success," Putin said, adding that the power of the Poseidon exceeded the Sarmat intercontinental missile, known as SS-X-29, or simply Satan II.

"The Poseidon's power significantly exceeds the power of even our most promising Sarmat intercontinental range missile," Putin said.

Putin last week held a nuclear launch drill and on Sunday announced that Russia has successfully tested its nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, a nuclear-capable weapon Moscow says can pierce any defense shield.

Since first announcing the Poseidon and Burevestnik in 2018, Putin has cast them as a response to moves by the United States to build a missile defense shield after Washington in 2001 unilaterally withdrew from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, and to enlarge the NATO military alliance.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

MOSCOW, RUSSIA (OCTOBER 29, 2025) (RUSSIAN POOL - Access all)

1. RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN ARRIVING TO MILITARY HOSPITAL AND BEING GREETED BY RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTER SERGEI BELOUSOV AND HEAD DOCTOR

2. VARIOUS OF PUTIN GREETING VETERANS

3. VARIOUS OF PUTIN THANKING VETERANS FOR ICONS THEY GAVE HIM FOR HIS BIRTHDAY

4. PUTIN AND VETERANS LEAVING

5. VARIOUS OF PUTIN TALKING TO WOUNDED SOLDIER IN BED

6. PUTIN AND VETERANS COMING INTO DINING ROOM AND SITTING DOWN

7. VETERANS LISTENING

8. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING:

"The overall situation in the "special military operation" zone is developing favorably for us. Your comrades are advancing and actively operating in all areas. In two places, as you know, we have already publicly stated this - in Kupiansk and Krasnoarmiisk (ed: Russian name for Pokrovsk) - the enemy has been blocked and surrounded."

9. PUTIN SPEAKING

10. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING:

"By the way, I discussed this issue with the commanders of the relevant forces. They are not opposed to allowing media representatives - foreign and Ukrainian journalists - into the enemy encirclement zones so that they can go in and see for themselves what's happening, verify the state of the encircled Ukrainian forces, and so that Ukraine's political leadership can make an appropriate decision regarding the fate of its citizens and servicemen, as they once did at Azovstal."

11. PUTIN SPEAKING

12. VETERANS LISTENING

13.(SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING:

"What you're doing, what your comrades, our soldiers and officers, are doing, is the most important task the country is currently undertaking, ensuring its security and the security of our people for the long term. But no less important is that while we address these critical current issues, we're not forgetting about improving and strengthening our strategic potential. You've probably heard that a new, unlimited-range, nuclear-powered (Burevestnik) missile was recently tested. It has undeniable advantages. We can be proud of the achievements of our scientists, specialists, and engineers."

14. VETERAN LISTENING

15. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING:

"The advantage is that this small nuclear propulsion system, while comparable in power to, say, a nuclear submarine's nuclear reactor, is 1,000 times smaller than a submarine's nuclear reactor. 1,000 times! But that's not even the most important thing. The most important thing is that while a conventional nuclear reactor starts up in hours, days, and weeks, this nuclear reactor starts up in minutes and seconds. That's a huge achievement."

16. PUTIN SPEAKING

17. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING:

"But we'll also be able to apply this (Burevestnik nuclear reactor) to the national economy in the future - to address energy supply issues in the Arctic and to the lunar program. Even now, the radiation-hardened electronics used in the Burevestnik missile are already being used in space programs. So this is a breakthrough not only in enhancing the country's defense capability, but also in science and the national economy in general."

18. PUTIN SPEAKING

19. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING:

"But that's not all. You should know: yesterday we conducted another test of another promising system. This is the Poseidon unmanned underwater vehicle, also with a nuclear propulsion system. For the first time, we succeeded not only in launching it from a submarine using its booster motor, but also in igniting the nuclear propulsion system, which the vehicle used for a certain period of time. This is a tremendous success."

20. VARIOUS OF PUTIN SPEAKING

21. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING:

"The Poseidon's power significantly exceeds that of even our most advanced intercontinental-range missile, the Sarmat. There's no missile like the Sarmat in the world. It's not yet deployed in Russia, but it will be soon. But the Poseidon is significantly more powerful than the Sarmat. Furthermore, the speed and depth of this unmanned aerial vehicle are unmatched in the world, and it's unlikely to be developed anytime soon, and there are no existing interception methods."

22. PUTIN SPEAKING