Putin tells officials to submit plans for possibly resuming nuclear tests after Trump’s remarks

Russian President Vladimir Putin asked authorities on Wednesday to submit suggestions for a possible resumption of nuclear tests in response to President Donald Trump’s words last week that appeared to suggest the US may restart its own atomic tests.

Putin reiterated his prior claim that Moscow will only resume nuclear tests if the United States did so first while addressing his Security Council. However, he gave the foreign and military ministries, together with other government departments, instructions to examine Washington’s plans and develop ideas for starting nuclear weapons testing again.

Trump suggested on October 30 that the United States might resume nuclear weapons testing for the first time in thirty years, but on “equal terms” with China and Russia.

However, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright stated on Sunday that nuclear explosions will not be a part of the forthcoming tests of the US nuclear weapons system that Trump authorized.

Days after Putin declared successful tests of the potential nuclear-powered and nuclear-capable cruise missile and underwater drone, Trump made the announcement on social media while in South Korea. Putin’s acclaim for the new weaponry, which he said are impenetrable, seems to be another indication to Trump that Russia is not backing down from its maximalist demands to resolve the Ukrainian war.

Trump alleges that Russia, China, and Pakistan are covertly testing their nuclear weapons.

Although it hasn’t exploded atomic weapons since 1992, the US military has nonetheless conducted frequent tests of nuclear-capable weapons. Since its passage, all nations with nuclear weapons—North Korea being the lone exception—have complied with the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which the US signed but did not ratify.

In 2023, Putin signed a bill rescinding Russia’s ratification of a worldwide prohibition on nuclear tests, which Moscow claimed was necessary to bring Russia up to speed with the United States. President Bill Clinton signed the worldwide test moratorium, but the US Senate never approved it.

Defense Minister Andrei Belousov briefed Putin on US attempts to update its atomic arsenals during Wednesday’s Security Council meeting, claiming that these measures “significantly increase the level of military threats to Russia” in conjunction with a potential restart of nuclear testing by Washington.

Belousov recommended that Moscow begin nuclear test preparations in the Arctic Novaya Zemlya archipelago right away. He claimed that the facility, where the Soviet Union last tested a nuclear weapon in 1990, was ready for immediately resuming the blasts.

The head of the military’s General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, also supported accelerating test preparations.

“Depending on the type of nuclear test, preparation can take anywhere from months to years, so if we don’t take the necessary steps now, we will miss the time and opportunity to react quickly to the US actions,” Gerasimov stated.

Putin directed government agencies to “gather additional information on the issue, analyze it within the framework of the Security Council and submit coordinated proposals on the possible start of work on preparations for nuclear weapons tests” after top officials and military leaders expressed concern about Washington’s contradictory signals regarding whether the US will resume nuclear explosions.

Dmitry Peskov, the spokesperson for the Kremlin, stressed that Putin did not command the commencement of nuclear test preparations and that, for the time being, he just instructed officials to determine whether it is essential to start such work. He added in statements broadcast by the state Tass news agency that Moscow has to fully comprehend U.S. objectives before making future judgments.

Later, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of the Security Council headed by Putin, said the Russians have no choice but to regard Trump’s words seriously.

Medvedev wrote on X, “No one knows what Trump meant about ‘nuclear testing,’ and he probably doesn’t himself.” Nevertheless, he is the US president. And the repercussions of such statements are unavoidable: Russia will have to decide if it is more practical to carry out its own full-scale nuclear testing.