(Associated Press) Details of a new Russian submarine-launched nuclear torpedo have been shown on state-controlled TV, a secret the Kremlin said should never have been aired. Some observers, however, saw it as a deliberate leak.
The airing of the video on television channels under tight Kremlin control raised suspicions that it was done intentionally to scare the West at a time when its ties with Russia are at the lowest point since the Cold War.
NTV and Channel One showed a large document — filmed over a general's shoulder during a meeting with Putin — with drawings and details of a prospective weapons system called Status-6.
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The system developed by St.Petersburg-based Rubin design bureau includes nuclear submarines carrying long-range torpedoes, which could create "extensive zones of radioactive contamination" that would make enemy coastal areas "unsuitable for military, economic, business or other activity for a long time," the document said.
