Since the United States and Russia suspended their Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty on February 2 and 3, Russia has sought to intimidate the West with a series of announcements on new weapons.

The Diplomat reported on February 6 that Poseidon, a nuclear-capable underwater drone, completed a “key stage of trials,” according to Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is unclear exactly what trials this weapons system has cleared; however, it is expected to be ready for deployment in the late 2020s.

The drone, a Status-6 Oceanic Multipurpose System, is an autonomous, torpedo-like submarine with stealth capabilities and nuclear warheads. It is designed to detonate its warhead underwater, triggering a radioactive tsunami with waves as high as 300 feet washing over a coastline, port, city or naval base.

Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, said the weapon’s yield could be up to 100 megatons, potentially one of the most powerful bombs ever built. He characterized it as “an insane weapon in the sense that it’s probably as indiscriminate and lethal as you can make a nuclear weapon.”

Russian officials and news media have used the weapon in a series of threats since the suspension of the inf Treaty. Business Insider, quoting a Russian newspaper, reported the latest threat in reference to the weapon: “It cannot be excluded that one of the Poseidon with a 100-megaton nuclear warhead will lay low off the U.S. coast, becoming ‘the doomsday weapon.’ Thus an attack on Russia will become a suicidal misadventure.” Business Insider wrote that although Poseidon “doesn’t change the mutually assured destruction dynamic” between the U.S. and Russia, it does provide “a way to destroy more natural life in the process.”

Also this week, Russia test-launched another intercontinental ballistic missile. On the morning of February 6, Russia’s Strategic Rocket Forces successfully tested the RS-24 Yars missile. The goal of the test, which successfully hit its target in far eastern Russia, was “to check tactical, technical and flight characteristics of the prospective missile system.” The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that all “[o]bjectives of the exercise were met.”

The icbm has an estimated range of 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles), with a yield of 150 to 250 kilotons per warhead, and requires only seven minutes to launch. The Strategic Rocket Forces are said to have 60 mobile icbms on transporter-erector launchers and 10 fixed silo-based missiles deployed.

The Diplomat also reported on February 6 the partially successful test of nuclear-powered cruise missile Burevestnik. The test took place on January 29; this was the missile’s first test in nearly a year, but the 13th in total. It appears that development of the missile is continuing with apparently only one successful test occurring in 2017. However, at the Russian Federal Assembly in March 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the missile’s range was “unlimited” and could “maneuver for as long as necessary.” Putin also justified the missile, and others that were unveiled, as necessary to counter U.S. missile capabilities. If Burevestnik is successfully completed and deployed, Russia will be the first country to deploy a cruise missile with an onboard nuclear reactor, a system involving massive engineering challenges and safety concerns.

The Russian Navy has also upgraded its electronic warfare capabilities, according to a February 5 report by the Eurasia Daily Monitor. The 5P-42 Filin uses “low-frequency fluctuations in the brightness of light radiation to attack the optic nerves of enemy personnel causing ‘temporary reversible disorders’ of vision” such as blindness, nausea and hallucinations. These can be used against sailors and coastal personnel.

All these weapon developments point to Russia’s return to superpower status. The Bible prophesies that Russia will rise as the leader of a powerful military bloc in the end time, called “the kings of the east” in Revelation 16:12. The identity of the Asian nations that will comprise this bloc, as well as Russia’s leadership role, is recorded in Ezekiel 38 and explained in our free booklets Russia and China in Prophecy and The Prophesied ‘Prince of Russia.’

The rise of this great Eastern superpower is building to a massive clash with what Daniel 11 refers to as “the king of the north”—German-led Europe. (For more information on the identity of the king of the north, request our free booklet Germany and the Holy Roman Empire.) Verse 44 says that “tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him [the king of the north]: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.”

Europe is very troubled right now with Russia’s rapid militarization and the collapse of the inf Treaty. We can know where this is leading by examining the prophecies of the Bible. Russia’s new weapons are not just for show; they will be used, and they will be used against Europe in a time of unparalleled suffering.

In our Trend article “Why the Trumpet Watches Russia’s Return to Superpower Status,” we wrote:

Russia has an incredibly vast nuclear arsenal and has publicly stated that nuclear weapons remain key to the nation’s defense strategy. Moscow has even made plain that it is not averse to the possibility of launching preemptive strikes to defend its interests!

Experts tell us that once a nuclear war starts, it cannot be stopped.

Our world is edging toward nuclear madness, precisely as Jesus Christ prophesied almost 2,000 years ago: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved [alive]: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24:21-22).

If nuclear war starts, and if it is not intercepted by some higher power, no person or animal on Earth would survive!

There is dangerous nuclear war coming that will threaten to destroy all human life, but as the end of Matthew 24:22 says, “those days shall be shortened.” Nuclear war is coming, but so is Jesus Christ, who will return to put an end to all the suffering. This is the wonderful hope beyond the rapid militarization efforts around the world. And this is the context that we need as we watch Russia’s rise. For more information on Russia’s role in prophecy, read The Prophesied ‘Prince of Russia.’