Another test of Russia's intercontinental Bulava missile has failed, the defence ministry said Thursday, with the missile blowing up in mid-flight, following a similar failed test in December.

The missile, which can carry nuclear warheads, veered off course after the first stage of the rocket malfunctioned, said the ministry, quoted by the Ria Novosti agency.

It was launched by Russia's Dmitri Donskoi submarine in the White Sea on Wednesday.

"A committee of inquiry has been set up to determine the causes" of the incident, the defence ministry's press service added.

Several such tests have already ended in failure, including one in December 2008 launched by the same submarine in the White Sea, off the northwest coast of Russia. On that occasion the missile also exploded in mid-air.

A defence ministry source said the problem was in the device designed to separate the different stages of the missile and said tests would continue this summer.

The Bulava missile normally has a range of 8,000 kilometres (5,000 miles) and can carry up to 10 nuclear warheads.

It is intended to equip the Russian navy's fourth-generation missile-launching nuclear submarines, which are being built at the Sevmash shipyard at Severodvinsk, on Russia's Arctic coast.