Putin orders proposals on resuming nuclear tests in response to Trump

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered top officials to submit plans for a possible resumption of nuclear testing, a direct response to President Donald Trump’s surprise order that the United States begin testing for the first time in more than 30 years.

In a televised meeting with his Security Council in Moscow, Putin said he had warned the United States and others that if they “conducted such tests, Russia would also be obliged to take appropriate retaliatory measures.”

He asked the foreign and defense ministries “to make every effort to collect additional information on this issue, analyze it in the Security Council and submit coordinated proposals on the possible start of preparations for nuclear weapons tests.”

Several senior Putin officials have supported the need to resume testing.

“We must respond appropriately to Washington’s actions,” Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said, urging his government “to immediately begin preparations for large-scale nuclear tests.”

General Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s chief of staff, added: “If we do not take appropriate measures now, we will miss the opportunity to quickly respond to the actions of the United States, because preparation for nuclear tests, depending on their type, takes several months or even years.” »

Russia’s ambassador to Washington, Alexander Darchiev, sent a telegram to US officials “to clarify these controversial statements by US President Donald Trump”, Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, told the Council.

But “representatives of the White House and the US State Department declined to comment,” he added, “stating that they would communicate the information to their superiors and contact the Russian side if it was deemed necessary to provide clarification.”

The Security Council meeting was supposed to focus on transportation security. However, Russian State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin asked members to first comment on Washington’s announcement of the resumption of nuclear testing.

NBC News has contacted the Pentagon and the State Department for comment.

The move comes after Trump announced last week that he had directed the Defense Department to “immediately” begin testing nuclear weapons “on an equal footing” with other countries.

The United States has not conducted a nuclear test since 1992, China and France last did so in 1996, and the Soviet Union in 1990.

Trump’s order was widely criticized by nuclear scientists and nonproliferation experts, who said Washington had little to gain from actual exercises, which would likely only embolden Moscow and Beijing.

The United States has only one viable testing site, the former Nevada Nuclear Test Site near Las Vegas, which experts say would take at least two years to come online.

Trump and his team have shown little clarity.

Asked if he planned to resume explosive nuclear testing underground, the president told reporters Friday: “You’ll know very soon, but we’re going to do testing, yes.”

He added: “Other countries are doing it. If they have to do it, we will do it.”

On Sunday, his Energy Secretary, Chris Wright, told Fox News that “these will be non-nuclear explosions” that would develop “sophisticated systems so that our replacement nuclear weapons will be even better than they were before.”

Given Washington officials’ seemingly contradictory public statements, Russia “was not entirely clear on future actions and measures of the United States regarding the conduct or non-conduct of nuclear weapons tests,” Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu said at the meeting.

For his part, Putin has often brandished the nuclear saber since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He has warned Western countries not to intervene in the conflict, suggesting he would not be afraid to use Moscow’s arsenals if they did.

Last month, he said Russia had conducted the first hour-long test of a nuclear-powered, nuclear-capable cruise missile capable of evading U.S. missile defenses. In response, Trump said he had a nuclear submarine “right off their coast.”

According to the Norwegian government, the missile, the Burevestnik, was launched from Novaya Zemlya, an archipelago off Russia’s northern coast. Belousov referred to this site again on Wednesday.

“The readiness of forces and means at the central test site of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago allows nuclear tests to be carried out in a short time,” he said.