The Afloat Forward Staging Base (Interim) USS Ponce (ASB(I) 15) conducts an operational demonstration of the Office of Naval Research (ONR) -sponsored Laser Weapon System (LaWS) while deployed to the Arabian Gulf. (U.S. Navy photo)

MOSCOW, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Russia's new Peresvet laser weapon systems have been put on combat duty, the Defense Ministry's Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper reported Wednesday.

The Peresvet laser complex entered into combat service on Saturday, said the report. And the ministry also released a video on social media of the weapon complex being deployed.

Russian military personnel operating those systems underwent special training at the Mozhaysky Military Space Academy in St. Petersburg, it added.

The systems are capable of "concealing the areas of deployment of intercontinental ballistic missiles" and will be used in air defense and military defense, a military expert was cited by the newspaper as saying.

During his annual address on March, Russian President Vladimir Putin first announced the development of the systems, saying that "significant progress" was achieved in Russia's laser weaponry program and "there are all reasons to believe that we are one step ahead our rivals in this sphere."