...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...has commended his military forces for carrying out a successful test launch of the cutting-edge Avangard hypersonic missile system.
"On my instructions the industrial enterprises and the Defense Ministry have prepared for and carried out the final test of this system," Putin said at a meeting with members of his government on Wednesday. "The test was completely successful; all technical parameters were verified."
The test on Wednesday saw an Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle launched from the Dombarovskiy missile base in Russia’s southern Ural Mountains, successfully hitting its designated target 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) away in Kamchatka’s Kura shooting range.
"The Avangard is invulnerable to intercept by any existing and prospective missile defense means of the potential adversary," Putin said after the test.
When first unveiling the Avangard in his state-of-the-nation address in March, Putin said the hypersonic system has an intercontinental range and could reach speeds 20 times faster than the speed of sound when flying in the atmosphere.