Moscow suggests that it will carry out its own nuclear tests if the US resumes testing under Donald Trump’s orders.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has suggested that if the United States tests nuclear weapons, “Russia will respond in kind.”
Lavrov cited on Tuesday previous statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin laying out Moscow’s policy.
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His comments came less than two weeks after US President Donald Trump said he directed his administration to “immediately” resume nuclear testing.
“Putin outlined our position back in 2023, when he was asked about this issue during one of his speeches,” Lavrov told reporters, according to Russia’s state-owned news agency TASS.
“He stated that if any of the nuclear powers conducts a nuclear weapons test – not a carrier test or a subcritical experiment, but an actual nuclear weapons test – then Russia will respond in kind.”
Late in October, Trump claimed that other countries have testing programmes, saying that he instructed the Pentagon to start testing nuclear weapons “on an equal basis”.
But Russia’s last known nuclear test was in 1990; China’s was in 1996. The US has not tested a nuclear bomb since 1992.
Since the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) was signed in 1996, only India, Pakistan and North Korea have carried out known nuclear tests.
Russia tested a missile powered by nuclear energy in October, but not an actual nuclear bomb.
Earlier this month, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright – whose agency is responsible for the country’s nuclear programme – said the US will not carry out a nuclear explosion.
Rather, Wright told Fox News, the US will test components of nuclear weapons to simulate how they would work and ensure that the systems are operational.
“I think the tests we’re talking about right now are system tests. These are not nuclear explosions. These are what we call noncritical explosions,” he said.
But on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia had not received direct information from the US regarding the testing issue.
“So far, there have been no explanations from our US colleagues on this topic,” he was quoted as saying by TASS.
Peskov said last week that Putin instructed the Russian military to “study the advisability of beginning preparations” for nuclear testing.
For its part, China denied that Beijing is conducting nuclear testing and said it hoped that Washington would abide by the nuclear moratorium put in place by the CTBT.
“As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a responsible nuclear-weapon state, China is committed to peaceful development, follows a policy of ‘no first use’ of nuclear weapons and a nuclear strategy that focuses on self-defence, and adheres to its nuclear testing moratorium,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on November 3.
On Tuesday, Lavrov hit out at Pentagon nominee Robert Kadlec, who told US lawmakers last week that Washington “needs to have credible nuclear response options for a theatre conflict below the strategic-level”.
“Mr Kadlec, who is seeking the post of assistant to the secretary of war, stated that nuclear options should be developed to address certain potential regional conflicts,” Lavrov said.
“This is quite a remarkable statement. In other words, it directly indicates that this individual, as assistant to the secretary of war, intends to view the use of nuclear weapons as a tool for achieving the objectives the United States deems necessary in specific regions.”
Russia itself was accused of nuclear sabre-rattling in the early stages of its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 when Putin put Moscow’s nuclear deterrence force on high alert.
