Moscow: As part of boosting Defence preparedness of the country's armed forces, a Russian nuclear submarine today (June 29, 2004) "successfully" test-launched a ballistic missile from the Barents Sea to hit a designated target several thousands kilometre away in a remote area in the nation's Far East.

"The missile fired from the 'Ekaterinburg' nuclear submarine has successfully hit a target at the Kura testing ground on Kamchatka, the successful firing of the ballistic missile from the submerged position has been another confirmation of the effectiveness of the combat control system and reliability of the naval strategic nuclear forces," Russian Navy spokesman Captain Dygalo was quoted as saying by ITAR-TASS.

He said the crew of the nuclear-powered missile carrier has displayed a high level of training in the course of fulfilling the assignment.

The 'Ekaterinburg' fired the RSM-54 (NATO codename: Skiff) inter-continental ballistic missile (SLBM) at 12:55 hours IST and its dummy warhead hit the Kura ground over six thousand kilometres in Russia's Far East after 28 minutes.

Earlier in February, in the course of war games of the Northern Fleet, watched by President Vladimir Putin, the nuclear submarines failed to launch two missiles.

Later in March, on the orders of angry Putin, the Navy had successfully launched two RSM-54 SLBMs.