Russia says missile test a success

New ICBM meant to thwart U.S. shield planned in Europe.

MOSCOW — Russia’s military reported a successful test Wednesday of a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile that generals said was designed to overpower the U.S. missile defense system.

Russian generals told news agencies that the missile’s technological development was a direct response to the U.S. plans for a shield. They said the rocket uses a new type of fuel to shorten the time it needs to launch into space, increasing its ability to evade interceptors. One Russian news portal said the rocket was called the “Avant-garde.”

The launch seemed intended as much to deliver a political message as to demonstrate the rocket’s capability to streak across Russia and hit a target on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

Gen. Victor Yesin, a retired rocket forces commander, told the Interfax news service that it was emblematic of the arms race that Russia is ready to embark on if the United States went through with plans to put missile interceptors in Europe.

“This is one of the technical means Russia’s political and military leadership designed to answer America’s global system of missile defense,” Yesin said.

Russian officials have threatened for years to bulk up on new intercontinental ballistic missiles, within the limits of arms control treaties, in an effort to overpower the U.S. system, and said that could look like a new arms race.

The test Wednesday took on added political significance, coming two weeks after Vladimir Putin returned to the presidency. In another worrying sign for relations between Russia and the United States, Putin canceled a visit to the United States for a summit of the Group of Eight nations last weekend hosted by President Barack Obama at Camp David. Prime Minister Dmitry Medve- dev represented Russia instead.

Russia’s objection to the missile defense scheme has reached into the U.S. presidential election. Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican candidate, has criticized how Obama is trying to ease Russia’s concerns.

The Obama administration insists the defensive system would never be directed against Russia, aiming instead at emerging missile threats from Iran or North Korea.

Russian officials say they remain unconvinced by this assurance, and the Russian military has been struggling to modernize its missile arsenal.