3M22 Zircon Launched From Severodvinsk SSGN.

Russia's MoD informed (in Russian) that Severodvinsk, the lead submarine of Yasen-class, successfully launched hyper-sonic missile 3M22 Zircon which confirmed all of its parameters and hit the target.  Judging by the video, Zircon was launched from surfaced Severodvinsk, so launches from beneath the waves are coming. 

The obvious conclusion is that Zircon flies well, and performs as expected, which means that it will first see deployment (as was expected) on surface ships and later on subs. But that is not what attracted my attention. Suddenly this news is "breaking news"

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the government to decide whether it is viable to limit the spending of the Russian sovereign wealth fund in view of expected lower oil and gas revenues in the energy transition in the coming decades. Russia's National Wealth Fund (NWF) holds some $190 billion in assets, most of which are liquid assets from revenues of oil and gas. Current legislation allows Russia to spend money from the fund above a threshold of assets equal to 7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) held by the fund. Putin, however, wants the government to say by October 15 if the country should amend the legislation to put the minimum assets held by the fund before any spending at 10 percent of GDP. This would potentially restrict spending from the fund. Putin's proposal comes after the Russian finance ministry said that the energy transition could dent Russian oil and gas revenues and threaten the country's finances within a decade, Reuters reporter Darya Korsunskaya notes.

As is expected, maroons from Western media outlets, including Russia's native ignorant journos who do not know shit from shinola,  rely on what Russian finance ministry "said"--the statement which was already ridiculed and completely debunked by energy specialists with actual degrees and experience in energy sector (not in "finances") and against the background of an astronomic spike in prices for natural gas, LNG and coal, which China is siphoning today from markets like there is no tomorrow. That is why EU doesn't get what it needs in terms of...pretty much anything, while China's "sparsely" populated (only 100 million people, wink, wink) three North Eastern provinces are facing shutdowns in electricity and heat supply. Hundreds of industrial plants have been shut down completely or ordered to operate on a reduced schedule. It is the energy apocalypse in China and recall my table from the last post--China is in red with a severest energy deficit for such a colossal economy. Add here misguided attempts on "green" energy and voila'. 

Putin merely accumulates huge revenues from hydrocarbons' export for much more than rainy day but for a catastrophe which "green" energy is already bringing to Europe and other places. You know, financing cutting edge weapons and R&D, and already immense programs of industrial construction--Russia just started to build a gigantic plant in Tula which will make Russia 100% independent in extracting Vanadium from byproducts of metallurgy. Currently Russia still sends some portion of byproducts to Austria and Czechia for processing because Ural plant for Vanadium doesn't cover all Russia's needs. And this is just one example. Not to mention the fact that Russia's infrastructure projects are financed already. As I said, you want to be a superpower--get your energy in order. You want to kill the economy of your country--go "green". But then again, it is impossible to explain to lawyers, MBAs and political activists with degrees in political science and gender studies who primarily drive "green" ideology and constitute West's political "elites" that physics is a complex science and that they better learn basic manufacturing processes of such things as wind generators and solar panels, not to speak of all those new types of batteries which, allegedly, will be able to resolve issues of accumulation. Good luck with that. You will have more luck explaining to 6-year old the meaning of life, than explaining some European social-democrat what Ohm's Law is. And since when what Russia does with her sovereign wealth fund is such a big deal in the West. Come on, we all know that Russia's economy is "smaller than that of Texas" and that Russia produces nothing. 

I've seen sheer idiocy in my life, especially on the eve of the Soviet collapse, but this West's "thing", holy shit--I never thought one could be that stupid. I was wrong.