Russian military test-fires 3 ballistic missiles in same day

By

The Associated Press

Cadets of the Serpukhov Military School of Strategic Missile Forces train at the Topol intercontinental ballistic missile during exercises in Serpukhov, 90 km (56 miles) south of Moscow, Tuesday, April 6, 2010. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)

MOSCOW — The Russian military has test-fired three ballistic missiles in one day, drills that come amid a U.S.-Russian rift over Syria.

The Defense Ministry said a nuclear submarine of the Russian Pacific Fleet launched an intercontinental ballistic missile from the Sea of Okhotsk off Russia’s far east at a military firing range in the northwest on Wednesday.

A Northern Fleet nuclear submarine later fired a missile in the opposite direction from the Barents Sea, in the far north west.

Separately, a ground-based Topol intercontinental ballistic missile was fired from the Plesetsk launch pad in northern Russia at the Kamchatka range in eastern Russia.

The launches come as U.S.-Russian relations have hit their lowest point in years after the collapse of a truce in Syria, where Russian warplanes are backing the Syrian army.