Putin warns that Russia is considering resuming nuclear tests after the US announcement. Medvedev pokes fun at Trump
Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country would consider further nuclear tests after US President Donald Trump said last week that Washington would resume nuclear testing programs.
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump PHOTO: Shutterstock
“Russia has always respected and continues to respect its commitments under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and we have no plans to deviate from these obligations,” Putin said on Wednesday, November 5, during a meeting with members of Russia's Security Council.
According to CNN, the Russian leader added that if the United States or other CTBT signatory countries start testing nuclear weapons, Russia will have to take “appropriate and proportionate response measures'.
Putin also said he asked ministries and other government agencies “to present coordinated proposals regarding the possible start of preparatory work for nuclear weapons tests”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that no decision had been made yet.
“We are just analyzing whether it is necessary to start preparations. We remain, for now, bound by our total nuclear test ban obligations,” Peskov said.
Medvedev mocks Trump: “Even he doesn't know what he meant”
The deputy secretary of Russia's Security Council, former president Dmitry Medvedev, mocked US President Donald Trump after he announced the resumption of US nuclear tests for the first time in 33 years.
“No one knows what he meant when he referred to nuclear tests. He probably doesn't either,” wrote Medvedev in a post on the X platform.
The former Russian head of state warned, however, that such statements cannot remain without consequences.
“But he is the president of the United States. And the consequences of such statements are inevitable: Russia will have to evaluate the advisability of conducting full nuclear tests,” Medvedev said.
Putin sparked concern the other day when he announced that Russia had successfully tested an experimental nuclear-powered underwater torpedo, called the Poseidon, which military analysts say could have a range of more than 6,000 miles.
Shortly after, President Donald Trump reacted on the TRuth Social platform.
“Because of the testing programs of other countries, I have instructed the War Department to begin testing our nuclear weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately,” he transmitted Trump.
According to the cited source, neither Russia nor the United States have conducted nuclear tests since the 1990s, and both are signatories to the CTBT, a treaty that prohibits all nuclear explosions, regardless of their purpose.
Russia's last nuclear test took place in October 1990, after which Moscow declared a moratorium on tests, according to the nonprofit Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). The United States has not tested a nuclear weapon since 1992.
