Russia test-fires intercontinental missile

Russia on Wednesday successfully test-fired for the third time its new RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile, designed to counter air defence systems like the controversial US missile shield.

The missile was fired from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia and hit targets on the Kamchatka Peninsula that juts into the Pacific Ocean 6,000 kilometres (4,000 miles) to the east, Russian news agencies reported.

"The targets that were set were reached. The tasks were fully carried out," the commander of Russia's strategic missile forces, Nikolai Solovtsov, was quoted as saying by Interfax.

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