However, there are also questions about whether Russia’s apparently awesome arsenal of weapons of mass destruction would work as intended if push came to shove. Mr Ballantyne, the editor of Warships IFR magazine, told Express.co.uk: “The new variant of the Oscar II, the Belgorod – which is to start sea trials next year – can reportedly carry and launch the large Poseidon nuclear-powered and nuclear-tipped Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV).
“Looking like a massive torpedo, the Poseidon has a top speed around 100 knots, a range of several thousand miles and can supposedly go as deep as 3,000ft.
“With a 100-megaton warhead it can be fired from secure zones in the Arctic – what Russians call Bastions – to potentially hit targets in the USA or Europe.
“It can detonate in civilian ports and naval base harbours and render them completely useless for a long time, while killing many people.
Vladimir Putin’s Russia is developing a fearsome arsenal of weaponry (Image: GETTY)
The Poseidon is an unmanned drone capable of launching a 100 megaton nuclear warhead (Image: GETTY)
“It could also cause serious harm to a carrier battle group, which would be hard pressed to defend itself and fend one off before it detonated.”
Mr Ballantyne said there was some scepticism in the West about whether Mr Putin’s “so-called wonder weapons” were “practical weapons in reality”.
He explained: “Just as in the latter part of the Cold War, when NATO submarine forces had to counter very advanced submarines, such as the famed Alfa attack boat, the West will have to formulate strategies and introduce new technologies just in case Putin’s wonder weapons, including Poseidon, do work.
READ MORE: Russia alert: Putin sends ‘super-quiet’ submarines into UK waters to spy on Britain
The Poseidon UUV is carried by a new version of Russia’s massive Belgorod submarines (Image: GETTY)
“A lesson from the past for the Russians, is that for all its fearsome qualities of being very fast and deep diving the Alfa attack submarine was in the end very tricky to operate and, ultimately, an experimental dead end.
“It did cause quite a few sleepless nights for NATO during the Cold War, however, and that is the Kremlin’s aim today – to keep the West off balance, and to deter NATO from making any moves Putin considers counter to Russia’s interests at home or abroad.”
Another, more recent case in point was the Losharik, a small nuclear submarine which is currently out of action as a result of a fire which claimed the lives of 14 men.
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Vladimir Putin takes a ride in a Russian submersible (Image: GETTY)
The weapons can be launched from secure zones in the Arctic called Bastions (Image: House of Commons Defence Committee)
Mr Ballantyne suggested the craft, which can be operated manned or unmanned and which even has ‘arms’ which can be used to grab, cut, or otherwise manipulate under-sea cables, was a surveillance vessel which could be used to spy on Britain, among other countries – assuming it was operational.
The Losharik’s accident and withdrawal from service had seriously undermined the Russian “constant and ongoing” intelligence gathering effort, Mr Ballantyne said
Mr Putin called has referred to the disruption as a “huge loss for the fleet and the military in general”.
The Poseidon could potentially devastate cities in the US and Europe (Image: Daily Express)
The main thing about Russia is the Russians are spending on things they think will give them the edge
Additionally, Russia is introducing new Yantar Class ships, with one, the Yantar itself, already deployed, with the second, the Almaz, due to be complete this year, and a third being built.
Mr Ballantyne said the vessels were supposedly used for deep sea scientific research, but were “undoubtedly engaged in intelligence gathering, with each equipped with deep diving manned submersibles and unmanned underwater vehicles.
A Russian nuclear submarine in the Arctic (Image: GETTY)
He added: “The main thing about Russia is the Russians are spending on things they think will give them the edge.
“They know they can’t compete with the US in terms of destroyers.”
Iain Ballantyne is the editor of WARSHIPS IFR magazine and author of ‘The Deadly Trade’, a history of submarine warfare from ancient times to today (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £12.99 paperback). Visit http://www.expressbookshop.co.uk