Russia clarified to the United States last week that it has not carried out, but has simply tested, two new generation atomic-powered weapons systems. The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, thus responded to the reluctance shown byr tests of the Russian nuclear-powered maneuver aircraft Burevestnik.
“This cannot be interpreted in any way as a nuclear test“, Peskov said last Thursday. Peskov stressed that Moscow informed the White House about the test launches with the Burevestnik cruise missile (October 21) and with the Poseidon unmanned submersible (October 28).
Peskov further expressed confidence that “the information was correctly conveyed to President Trump.” “Russia is a sovereign country and has the right to make sovereign decisions. “All countries are dedicated to developing their defense systems and that does not represent a nuclear test,” he said.
The Kremlin spokesman recalled that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, keeps the moratorium on nuclear testing in place, as long as the rest of the powers do the same. Russia has not conducted tests since the fall of the Soviet Union. “I want to recall the statement of President Putin, who on several occasions repeated: of course, if someone abandons the moratorium, then Russia will act depending on the situation,” he declared.
In November 2023, the head of the Kremlin signed the law revoking the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), but maintained the moratorium until further notice.
Meanwhile, Peskov denied that Trump had informed Moscow about his decision announced this Thursday to become an American “due to other countries’ testing programs.”
“Due to other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the War Department to begin to test our nuclear weapons on equal terms. That process will begin immediately,” Trump said through his social network Truth Social. However, it is not clear whether the American leader is referring to nuclear weapons launch tests or nuclear tests themselves, whether above ground or underground.
The Russian spokesman also responded negatively to the question of whether this means the start of an arms race. Later, however, also denied that Russia and the US had resumed negotiations for the renewal of START IIIthe last nuclear disarmament treaty still in force between both powers.
“At the moment there has been no substantial proposal from Washington. As of today we cannot speak, unfortunately, of any kind of progress,” he said. Putin recently proposed to the US to voluntarily extend the application of START III for one year, once it expires next February.
Trump’s announcement about testing his nuclear weapons came after Putin directed land, sea and air maneuvers of nuclear forces from the Kremlin on October 22.
Putin, who insisted that these were “routine” exercises that he had last presided over in October 2023, announced in recent days the successful tests with two new nuclear-powered weapons systems unparalleled in the world (Burevéstnik and Poseidon).
