RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin delivered his annual state of the nation speech today, dividing it between vague pledges to improve living standards, pensions and housing and boasting of a new generation of undetectable strategic nuclear weapons.

He claimed that his country had achieved a technological breakthrough that could dramatically boost its military capability and global standing.

President Putin said that Russia’s new weapons include a nuclear-powered cruise missile, a nuclear-powered underwater drone and new hypersonic missiles that have no equivalent elsewhere in the world.