MOSCOW - Russia has suspended work on its Barguzin rail-mobile nuclear missile.
Tass Russian News Agency reported on Wednesday that work on the Barguzin rail-mobile ballistic missile system has been suspended and is thus not included in the upcoming state armament program for 2018-2027. The report noted that the project has been frozen "since the autumn of last year."
According to a source speaking to the news agency, the project has been suspended over a lack of financing. Given budgetary constraints, Russia will instead focus on the Rubezh and Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The source told Tass, "The rail-mobile ICBM system will also be excluded from the new state armament program through 2027 over a shortage of financing: there are no sufficient funds to finance all missile programs for Russia’s Strategic Missile Force and Russia has sacrificed the Barguzin project for the time being for the sake of the Sarmat and the RS-26 Rubezh ICBMs included in the new state program."
Russia had previously been hoping to put a missile division -- with five Barguzin regiments -- into service in the early 2020s, according to Tass. Development of the system had begun in 2013.
RIA Novosti reported that the suspension of the program does not mean it has been cancelled outright, but there is no indication of when development might be restarted.
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