Putin orders preparations for possible nuclear weapons tests

Strategic deterrence

Putin orders preparations for possible nuclear weapons tests

Russia has threatened new nuclear weapons, so the US also wants to test its weapons. But there is uncertainty in Moscow as to how far US President Trump actually wants to go.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the government to make preparations for possible nuclear weapons tests by Russia. At a meeting of the Security Council, he commissioned the ministries of defense and foreign affairs, the intelligence services and also the civilian ministries to develop proposals. This emerges from the Kremlin’s transcript of the meeting.

At the same time, the Kremlin chief emphasized that Moscow had always adhered to the Treaty banning nuclear weapons tests. It will continue to adhere to it as long as other states do not test nuclear weapons. “If the United States or other contracting states make such attempts, Russia, in turn, will respond accordingly,” he said.

Putin recently increased his threats about Russia’s nuclear potential. He also spoke of new types of weapons such as the Burevestnik long-range nuclear-powered missile and the Poseidon nuclear-powered torpedo. The information caused less concern abroad than previous threats from the Kremlin. But in the USA, President Donald Trump announced his country’s nuclear weapons tests without elaborating.

Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and the head of the SWR foreign intelligence service, Sergei Naryshkin, complained that the government in Washington was not providing any information about its intentions. The head of the domestic intelligence service FSB, Alexander Bortnikov, asked Putin for more time to investigate this precisely. Defense Minister Alexander Beloussov argued that the United States was expanding its offensive potential, so Russia must immediately begin “preparations for full-scale nuclear tests.”