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Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow will consider resuming nuclear tests if United States did so.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signalled that Russia will consider resuming nuclear tests if United States did so. He made the remarks at a security council meeting in Moscow and weeks after US President Donald Trump said that the US will restart nuclear tests.
He ordered officials of Russia’s defence and foreign ministries and security services, to “gather information on this topic" and make “proposals on the possible start of preparation works for nuclear weapons tests".
The Russian President oversaw a test of Russia’s strategic nuclear forces on land, sea and air to rehearse their readiness and command structure.
“The so-called modernity of our nuclear deterrent forces is at the highest level," Putin said, higher than any other nuclear power.
In a social media post shared shortly before meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea, Trump said he had instructed the Pentagon to begin nuclear testing “on an equal basis" and that the process would “start immediately."
Only North Korea has carried out a nuclear test explosion in the 21st century, the last one in 2017.
Russia, which recently tested two new nuclear-powered weapons, has been accused by Washington of conducting small “low-yield" tests and withholding transparency in its nuclear program, though it has not carried out a full-scale explosion.
Trump’s post also created confusion as it was unclear whether he was referring to the testing of nuclear weapon delivery systems or ending a 33-year moratorium on explosive nuclear tests.
Trump repeated his claim that other nations were testing nuclear weapons on Sunday and claimed that Pakistan, North Korea, China, and Russia were conducting secret underground nuclear tests to assert that the US too would resume nuclear tests. In a CBS 60 minutes interview, Trump insisted that other countries, including Pakistan, were conducting underground tests.
“No, we’re going to test because they test and others test. And certainly North Korea’s been testing. Pakistan’s been testing," Trump said, adding, “You don’t necessarily know where they’re testing. They test way underground where people don’t know exactly what’s happening with the test."
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