DHAKA: The Kremlin says secret plans for a Russian long-range nuclear torpedo - called "Status-6" - should not have appeared on Russian TV news.

The leak happened during a report on state-run Channel One about President Vladimir Putin meeting military chiefs in the city of Sochi.

One general was seen studying a diagram of the "devastating" torpedo system, reports the BBC.

Launched by a submarine, it would create "wide areas of radioactive contamination", the document says.

The "oceanic multi-purpose Status-6 system" is designed to "destroy important economic installations of the enemy in coastal areas and cause guaranteed devastating damage to the country's territory by creating wide areas of radioactive contamination, rendering them unusable for military, economic or other activity for a long time", the document says.

"It's true some secret data got into the shot, therefore it was subsequently deleted," said Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

"In future we will undoubtedly take preventive measures so this does not happen again."

The US Defence Department said it had seen the report, but would not comment further.

"We are aware of the video footage, but defer to the Russian navy as to its authenticity," a Pentagon spokesperson told the BBC.

However, the Russian government newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta later reported details of the weapon, without showing the diagram, and speculated about a super-radioactive cobalt device. So the leak may not have been accidental.

BDST:  1016 HRS, NOV 13, 2015
RS