AKIPRESS.COM - Russian military personnel on Friday carried out a successful launch of a missile interceptor from the Sary-Shagan test site in Kazakhstan, Russian Defense Ministry said.

On Friday, June 16, a joint crew of Russia’s air and missile defense force and representatives of the manufacturer successfully tested a missile interceptor. It was part of the effort to improve Russia’s missile defense system.

"The missile interceptor coped with its task and hit the target," the news release quotes the deputy commander of an operational air and missile defense unit, Andrei Prikhodko said.

According to the Defense Ministry, the missile defense protects Moscow and the central industrial region from ballistic missiles and monitors air and outer space to issue an early warning in case of a missile attack.