‘Alien invasion’ was Russian missile test

VLADIMIR PUTIN inadvertently prompted rumours of an alien invasion when intercontinental missiles he fired during a snap drill of the country’s nuclear defences were mistaken for UFOS.

The Russian president ordered the launch of four ballistic missiles as part of wide-ranging exercises to test the co-ordination of Russia’s ground-based nuclear missiles, submarines and strategic aviation, his spokesman said yesterday.

A video released by the defence ministry showed a mobile launcher firing a Topol intercontinental missile from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in north western Russia on Thursday night.

A nuclear submarine also fired a missile from the Barents Sea near Norway and another submarine in the Sea of Okhotsk, north of Japan, fired two missiles across Russia. Aircraft including a Tu-160 supersonic bomber also launched cruise missiles at targets in Russia and Kazakhstan. The missiles hit designated targets at testing ranges.

Residents in northern regions of Russia posted photos and videos of a giant ball of light in the sky, speculating that it was a UFO or even the “end of the world”. However, local media and officials later attributed the phenomenon to the missile tests, possibly in interaction with the Northern Lights.