Vladimir Putin has issued a new nuclear threat against the West with preparations to test a new missile in a move aimed at gaining bargaining power in talks on Ukraine with Donald Trump on Friday.

Satellite imagery captured just days before the summit in Alaska between Trump and Putin appears to show preparations for a nuclear-armed cruise missile test at Russia’s Pankavo test site on the Barents Sea archipelago of Novaya Zemlya.

The imagery, captured by commercial satellite firm Planet Labs, shows extensive activity, including increases in personnel and equipment, as well as ships and aircraft associated with earlier tests of the 9M730 Burevestnik (known as the SSC-X-9 Skyfall in Nato).

The Burevestnik is a Russian low-flying, nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed cruise missile whose

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