Russia long-range missile test a success - agencies

Russia said it successfully tested a long-range Topol missile from its Plesetsk launch site designed to avoid detection by anti-missile defence systems, news agencies reported.

"The experimental warhead section of the rocket hit its pre-determined target with high accuracy at the firing range on the Kamchatka peninsula," Interfax news agency quoted a Russian military spokesman as saying.

The RS-12M Topol, called the SS-25 Sickle by NATO, has a maximum range of 10,000 km (6,125 miles) and can carry one 550-kiloton warhead.

Russia has reconfigured earlier Topol models to expand their life-span to 23 years and has been evaluating the reliability of flight stabilisers that allow the missile to fly to a target in a manner similar to cruise missiles.