Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday his country will draw up plans to conduct nuclear tests after President Donald Trump announced the U.S. would do the same last week.
The Kremlin leader said he has asked relevant departments to ‘submit coordinated proposals regarding the possible commencement of work to prepare for nuclear weapons testing.’
‘Russia has always strictly adhered and continues to adhere to its obligations under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), and we have no plans to deviate from these commitments,’ Putin said at a meeting of the Russian national security council.
The treaty was signed but never ratified by the U.S.
If the U.S. or other signatories of the treaty begin nuclear testing, ‘Russia would also have to take appropriate and proportionate responsive measures,’ Putin added.
In the past week, Trump has both announced the U.S. will reignite nuclear testing and suggested he is working on a deal to denuclearize with Russia and China.
‘We redid our nuclear — we’re the number one nuclear power, which I hate to admit, because it’s so horrible,’ Trump said during a speech at the American Business Forum in Miami.
‘Russia’s second. China’s a distant third, but they’ll catch us within four or five years,’ he added. ‘We’re maybe working on a plan to denuclearize, the three of us. We’ll see if that works.’
Last week, Trump announced on Truth Social, ‘because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately.’
The War Department handles the testing of nuclear-capable weapons, while the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) would be responsible for testing explosives.
Some 1400 workers, 80% of the NNSA, are currently on furlough due to the government shutdown.
The U.S. regularly tests nuclear-capable vehicles, missiles and rockets, but the U.S. has not conducted an explosive nuclear test since 1992. Russia’s last known test was in 1990.
Russia last week did claim to test two delivery vehicles: an undersea torpedo known as Poseidon and a nuclear-powered cruise missile.
The U.S. conducted a nuclear-capable weapon test on Wednesday, launching the intercontinental ballistic missile Minuteman III into the air from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. It landed 4,200 miles away at a U.S. test site in the Marshall Islands.
Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president who holds a top post on its security council, wrote on X that ‘No one knows what Trump meant about ‘nuclear testing’,’ adding, ‘he probably doesn’t himself.’
‘But he’s the president of the United States. And the consequences of such words are inescapable: Russia will be forced to assess the expediency of conducting full-fledged nuclear tests itself,’ Medvedev added.
Russia’s defense minister, Andrey Belousov, said Wednesday that he believes the U.S. in general is ‘actively increasing its strategic offensive capabilities.’
‘We must, of course, focus not only — or even primarily — on statements and remarks made by American politicians and officials, but above all on the actual actions of the United States of America.’