MOSCOW, December 14. /TASS/. Russia’s Yars intercontinental ballistic missile has been loaded into a silo at the Kozelsk missile formation in the Kaluga Region in central Russia, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

"In the run-up to the Strategic Missile Force Day, the Kozelsk missile formation carried out the loading of a Yars ICBM into the silo launcher," the ministry said.

The complex process took a few hours and was carried out with the help of a special transporter-loader.

"This operation is important, because it will allow a yet another ICBM to enter the combat duty as scheduled," Commander of the Kozelsk missile formation Alexey Sokolov said.

The RS-24 Yars is a Russian strategic missile system comprising a mobile or silo-based solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile with MIRVed (multiple independently targetable vehicle) warheads. The Yars is a modification of the Topol-M missile system. Russia started deploying Yars ICBM systems in 2009, when the Yars launcher was accepted for experimental combat duty in the Strategic Missile Force.