Russia tests missile designed to counter US defense shield

By Msnbc.com staff and wire/

Russia has successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile – designed to counter a U.S. defense shield being set up in Europe - firing it from one end of the country to the other, according to reports.

News channel Russia Today’s website said that the missile was launched Wednesday from a facility at Plesetsk in northwestern Russia and hit the Kura target range on the Kamchatka Peninsula on the Pacific coast in the country’s east.

Retired Col.-General Viktor Yesin told Russia Today that the missile was "one of the military-technical measures, which Russia’s military-political leadership is taking in response to the deployment of a global anti-missile defense system by the Americans."    More >>