Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country would consider the possibility of conducting new nuclear tests, after US President Donald Trump said last week that Washington would begin a nuclear test program.
“Russia has always strictly complied with its obligations under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and will continue to do so. We do not intend to deviate from these commitments,” Putin said Wednesday in a meeting with members of the Russian Security Council.
But at the same time, Putin added, if the United States or CTBT member states start testing nuclear weapons, “Russia will also have to take appropriate and proportionate response measures.”
The Russian leader said he had asked government ministries and other institutions to “submit coordinated proposals on the possible start of preparatory work for nuclear weapons tests.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that nothing had been decided yet.
“We’re looking into whether we need to start preparing,” he told CNN. “We remain bound by the obligation of a total ban on nuclear testing.”
Last week, President Putin caused a shock by announcing that his country had successfully tested a nuclear-powered underwater torpedo called Poseidon. Military analysts suggest its range could be more than 6,000 miles (9,650 kilometers).
Hours later, President Trump announced on social media: “As other countries have nuclear testing programs, I have directed the Department of the Army to begin testing nuclear weapons equally. That process will begin immediately.”
Neither Russia nor the United States has conducted a nuclear weapon test since the 1990s, and both countries are signatories to the CTBT, which prohibits all nuclear test explosions for any purpose.
According to the nonprofit Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), Russia’s last nuclear weapons test was in October 1990, after which Russia pledged to maintain a moratorium on testing. According to NTI, the United States has not conducted a nuclear weapons test since 1992.
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belosov said Wednesday that even without President Trump’s latest announcement about nuclear weapons tests, it is clear that the United States is “actively strengthening its strategic strike capabilities.”
“We must, of course, focus not only or primarily on the statements and statements of American politicians and officials, but above all on the actual actions of the United States,” he told the Security Council, citing the United States’ withdrawal from several arms limitation agreements and the reported development of a number of weapons as evidence of this.
Belousov said Russia’s nuclear deterrent must be prepared for any threat, noting that the country’s central nuclear test site, Novaya Zemlya, is ready for any nuclear test.
Russian Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov told the Security Council on Wednesday that the United States “has not provided an official explanation” regarding President Trump’s comments last week, which he said meant Russia “has no reason to believe that the United States will refrain from preparing or subsequently carrying out such a test in the near future.”
“The U.S. side may continue to avoid public explanations, but this will not change anything, because if we do not take appropriate steps now, we will lose time and opportunity to respond in a timely manner to U.S. actions,” he said, noting that preparations for a nuclear test could last “months to years.”
This story has been updated with additional developments.
