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Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered its top officials to draft proposals for possible nuclear weapons testing, but not a single step has been taken moscow Since then soviet unionFall in 1991.
Defense Minister Andrei Belousov informed Putin that recent US comments and actions “advise to immediately prepare for full-scale nuclear tests”.
Belousov said Russia’s Arctic testing site in Novaya Zemlya could host such tests at short notice.
“I am instructing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense … special services and relevant civilian agencies to make every possible effort to gather additional information on this issue, analyze it in the Security Council, and make agreed proposals on the possible start of work on preparing for nuclear weapons tests,” Putin said.
Apart from North Korea, no country – as recently as 2017 – has conducted an explosive test of nuclear weapons in the 21st century.
Security analysts say resuming testing at a time of intense geopolitical tensions would be destabilizing.
If one country conducts such a test, analysts say other countries may follow suit.
“The action-reaction cycle is at its best. No one needs it, but we can get there regardless,” Andrey Baklitsky, a senior researcher at the UN Institute for Disarmament Research, posted on Twitter following Belousov’s comments.
The United States last tested in 1992, China and France in 1996, and the Soviet Union in 1990.
Post-Soviet Russia, which inherited the Soviet nuclear arsenal, never did so.
Trump said in a surprise announcement last week: “Because of the testing programs of other countries, I have directed the War Department to begin testing our nuclear weapons on an equal basis. This process will begin immediately.”
Trump has not yet clarified whether he was referring to nuclear-explosive testing, which would be conducted by the National Nuclear Security Administration, or flight testing of nuclear-capable missiles.
Russia last month tested its new Burevestnik cruise missile, which is nuclear powered and designed to carry a nuclear warhead.
It also conducted nuclear launch exercises and tested the nuclear-powered Poseidon super-torpedo.
Testing of delivery systems for nuclear weapons does not involve a nuclear explosion.
Such explosions were routinely carried out by nuclear powers for decades during the Cold War, with devastating environmental consequences, and campaigners fear a repeat could occur if explosive testing resumes.