RUSSIA has unveiled a new nuclear submarine built to unleash radioactive tidal waves on the West.

The hulking Khabarovsk is designed to carry Vladimir Putin’s Poseidon nuclear drones, the infamous torpedoes capable of wiping out entire coastal nations.

Vlad’s apocalyptic weapon was launched in Severodvinsk near the Finnish border – five years behind schedule after unexplained delays.

It was overseen by Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, who declared: “The heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser Khabarovsk is being launched from the renowned Sevmash shipyard.

“Carrying underwater weapons and robotic systems, it will enable us to successfully secure Russia‘s maritime borders and protect its national interests in various parts of the world’s oceans.”

Belousov said the submarine will now begin sea trials before joining the nuclear deterrent fleet.

The ceremony in Severodvinsk also featured Navy Commander Admiral Aleksandr Moiseyev christening the submarine by smashing a champagne bottle against its hull.

Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed the event marked a “new era” in undersea deterrence.

The launch took place just days after Putin’s test of the Poseidon torpedo in the Arctic’s Kara Sea, suggesting a choreographed show of nuclear brinkmanship near Nato’s northern flank.

Mad Vlad last week boasted that the Poseidon, a nuclear-powered drone able to carry an atomic warhead, had been successfully tested.

The Kremlin tyrant said: “The power of the Poseidon far exceeds that of our most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile, the Sarmat.

“There is nothing like it anywhere else in the world.”

Putin announced that Russia conducted tests of the Poseidon underwater vehicle equipped with a nuclear power unit yesterday

Poseidon torpedo test

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He added with menace: “There are no means of intercepting it.”

Russian state outlets brag that the Poseidon can create “radioactive tidal waves” capable of drowning Britain.

The 10,000-ton Khabarovsk was built as part of Project 09851 and is estimated to carry up to a dozen Poseidons, which are giant torpedoes each driven by their own miniature nuclear reactor.

The submarine is powered by a nuclear engine and can dive to depths of around 500 meters, remaining at sea for months.

Laid down in 2014, the submarine was originally due for launch in 2020.

Its construction cost, shrouded in secrecy, is believed to exceed £1 billion.

Moscow calls the Poseidon system a “post-doomsday” weapon — an autonomous, nuclear-powered underwater vehicle with virtually unlimited range.

Deputy Security Council chief Dmitry Medvedev has dubbed it the “Doomsday missile.”

The Khabarovsk shares much of its design with Russia’s Borei-class strategic submarines, but unlike them, it carries no ballistic missiles.

Instead, it is purpose-built for special operations and the deployment of nuclear-powered underwater drones, in a shift that signals the Kremlin’s growing obsession with unconventional strategic systems.

Photos released by Russia’s Defence Ministry showed only the rear of the vessel, with a partially covered pump-jet propulsion system resembling those on the Borei-A class subs.

Analysts say the secrecy around its full structure underscores Moscow’s fear of Western scrutiny, and the likelihood that much of the Khabarovsk’s design remains experimental.

A second submarine of the same class, the Ulyanovsk, is already under construction and expected to join the Pacific Fleet.

Together, they would give Moscow a dual-ocean capability to deploy the Poseidon system, in a move Western analysts say is designed to project fear on both sides of the globe.

Each Poseidon torpedo, also known by its Nato code name Status-6, is believed to be capable of traveling thousands of miles underwater before detonating off enemy coasts, spreading lethal radiation and triggering tsunamis.