Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday presided over the testing of a new hypersonic rocket that would be able to evade anti-missile defense systems, calling it “an excellent New Year’s gift to the nation.”

Putin watched the launch of the Avangard missile system from the Defense Ministry’s control room with a group of top Russian military officials.

Introducing the Avangard in March, Putin said the intercontinental-range missile travels at 20 times the speed of sound, enabling it to bypass rivals’ missile defense systems.

“The Avangard is invulnerable to intercept by any existing and prospective missile defense means of the potential adversary,” Putin said following Wednesday’s test, adding that it will be added to Russia’s missile arsenal next year.

“It’s a big moment in the life of the armed forces and in the life of the country. Russia has obtained a new type of strategic weapon,” he said.

Launched from the Dombarovsky missile base in the Ural Mountains, the weapon struck a practice target 3,700 miles away on the Kamchatka peninsula.

Putin unveiled the Avangard missile system, one of a variety of weapons Russia developed to counter US defenses, after former President George W. Bush withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002.

The agreement had been signed between Russia and the US in 1972.

With Post wires