Russia test-fired a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile just one day after Vladimir Putin gave a rambling speech where he threatened the West with nuclear weapons.

The state-run TASS news agency reported: “At the Plesetsk State Test Cosmodrome, crews from the Yoshkar-Ola Missile Force conducted a combat training launch of a mobile-based solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile PGRK Yars, equipped with a multiple warhead.

“The training warheads arrived at the designated area at the Kura training ground on the Kamchatka Peninsula. The purpose of the launch was to confirm the tactical, technical and flight characteristics of the modern missile system. All assigned tasks were completed in full.”

The Russian military has tested its Yars intercontinental ballistic missile, releasing footage of the launch. The test was carried out at the Plesetsk test cosmodrome, 800km north of the capital Moscow.

The news comes just one day after Putin’s State of the Nation address in which he claimed NATO was planning to “strike” Russia, something that he claimed would lead to a nuclear showdown with the West.

During his speech, he warned the West that sending troops to Ukraine could spark a nuclear conflict.

He said: “They should eventually realise that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory.

“Everything that the West comes up with creates the real threat of a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons, and thus the destruction of civilisation.”

His comments came after French President Emmanuel Macron did not rule out NATO troops being sent to Ukraine.

Putin’s comments come as Russia heads to the polls in the presidential elections.

The Kremlin has snuffed out opposition figures in recent weeks, handing Putin an easy victory in the vote which observers have classed as neither free nor fair.

Following the death of Alexei Navalny, the opposition figure who was jailed on “extremism” charges, mourners gathered in Moscow for his funeral.

Those presented chanted his name while his widow, Yulia Navalnaya, said in her speech: “I don’t know how to live without you, but I will try to make you up there happy for me and proud of me. I don’t know if I can handle it or not, but I will try.”