URGENT: Russia to keep SS-18 ballistic missiles in service until 2019

MOSCOW, April 10 (RIA Novosti) - The RS-20 Voyevoda-M (SS-18 Satan) intercontinental ballistic missile, introduced almost 21 years ago, will remain in service until 2019, the commander of Russia's Strategic Missile Forces (SMF) said on Friday.

"The extension of the service life of the [Voyevoda-M] missile will allow us to keep these missiles, the most powerful in the world, in the SMF for another eight-to-10 years," Col. Gen.

According to publicly available sources, Russia operates 88 SS-18 missile silo launchers, most of them deployed at the Dombarovsky missile base in the Orenburg Region, in the southern Urals.