Putin orders proposals on resumption of nuclear testing

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday instructed senior officials to prepare proposals for potential nuclear weapons testing, following President Trump’s announcement last week that Washington would resume such tests.

Putin said Russia had always fully complied with its commitments under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty but warned that Moscow would respond in kind if the United States or any other nuclear power carried out a test.

Defence Minister Andrei Belousov told Putin that recent U.S. statements and actions made it “advisable to prepare for full-scale nuclear tests” without delay, adding that Russia’s Arctic testing range at Novaya Zemlya could accommodate such trials at short notice.

“I am instructing the Foreign Ministry, the Defence Ministry, our intelligence agencies, and the relevant civilian bodies to gather additional information, analyse it within the Security Council, and submit coordinated proposals on the possible preparations for nuclear weapons testing,” Putin said.

The United States last conducted a nuclear test in 1992, China and France in 1996, and the Soviet Union in 1990. Post-Soviet Russia, which inherited the Soviet nuclear arsenal, has not carried out any such tests to date.

Following the announcement by President Trump, the United Nations condemned the order saying that "nuclear tests can never be permitted under any circumstances". 

It added that current nuclear risks are already alarmingly high, and that all actions that could lead to escalation or miscalculation with catastrophic consequences must be avoided. 

"We must never forget the disastrous legacy of over two thousand nuclear tests carried out over the last 80 years" the UN said. 

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