<p>President Vladimir Putin on Thursday launched a nuclear-powered submarine equipped with hypersonic Zircon missiles capable of travelling at several times the speed of sound.</p><p>Russian news agencies, referring to a video link from the Arctic port of Murmansk, said Putin launched the vessel, named Perm after a city in the Urals, with the order: "I hereby authorise!"</p><p>The Russian agencies, quoting documents associated with the launch, said the Perm is the first nuclear-powered submarine to be equipped with Zircon missiles as a standard feature.</p>.Russia to try jailed Kremlin critic Navalny for slander amid EU talks.<p>Zircon missiles have a range of 900 km (560 miles) and their speed renders them very difficult to defend against.</p><p>The Perm is the sixth submarine in Russia's Yasen and Yasen-M classes built by the Sevmash shipyard near Murmansk.</p><p>The Russian agency reports said the vessel's construction specifications differed slightly from earlier models in the same class.</p><p>The agencies said that while in Murmansk, Putin visited a submarine named Arkhangelsk, also in the same class, and toured the Atomflot enterprise, which oversees Russia's icebreaker projects. </p>
<p>President Vladimir Putin on Thursday launched a nuclear-powered submarine equipped with hypersonic Zircon missiles capable of travelling at several times the speed of sound.</p><p>Russian news agencies, referring to a video link from the Arctic port of Murmansk, said Putin launched the vessel, named Perm after a city in the Urals, with the order: "I hereby authorise!"</p><p>The Russian agencies, quoting documents associated with the launch, said the Perm is the first nuclear-powered submarine to be equipped with Zircon missiles as a standard feature.</p>.Russia to try jailed Kremlin critic Navalny for slander amid EU talks.<p>Zircon missiles have a range of 900 km (560 miles) and their speed renders them very difficult to defend against.</p><p>The Perm is the sixth submarine in Russia's Yasen and Yasen-M classes built by the Sevmash shipyard near Murmansk.</p><p>The Russian agency reports said the vessel's construction specifications differed slightly from earlier models in the same class.</p><p>The agencies said that while in Murmansk, Putin visited a submarine named Arkhangelsk, also in the same class, and toured the Atomflot enterprise, which oversees Russia's icebreaker projects. </p>