Moscow is still waiting for clarity on the US nuclear testing issue, after President Trump late last month wrote on Truth Social, "Because of other countries' testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis."
This immediately sparked confusion and speculation over whether this would just involve testing nuclear delivery systems, like long-range ballistic missiles, or whether there would be an actual return to atomic detonations - which the US has not done since 1992 at the close of the Cold War.
On Sunday Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov made clear that Russia will hold firm to its obligations under international treaties prohibiting nuclear tests. However, he indicated that Russia will resume explosives tests only if other nations do first, in a clear reference to the United States under the Trump administration.
"Putin has consistently made clear that Russia respects its nuclear test ban commitments and has no plans to violate them," Peskov said in a new interview by Russian media.
"If another country resumes testing, we will be forced to follow suit to preserve strategic parity," Peskov explained,
And according to more from the interview, "He clarified that Putin merely asked officials to evaluate whether nuclear tests might be necessary — not to restart them — but warned that Russia would mirror any such actions taken by others."
Moscow has been complaining that Trump was reacting to mere tests of weapons which are nuclear-powered, and not actual nuclear detonations. RT writes of Peskov's latest remarks:
He also dismissed Western alarm over recent trials of the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile and the Poseidon underwater drone, stressing that these tests did not involve nuclear detonations. Peskov accused Western analysts of drawing "shallow and inaccurate" conclusions by conflating nuclear-powered system trials with nuclear tests. He added that Moscow expects clarification from Washington regarding Trump’s statements, calling the issue "too serious to overlook."
In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin had touted a successful test of his military's new "invincible" nuclear-capable cruise missile, the Burevestnik. Trump quickly in response called it "not appropriate" and reminded Moscow that a US nuclear submarine is "right off their shores."
The new Russian missile completed a multi-hour flight that covered 14,000km, and is touted as able to evade any modern anti-air defense system. The test took place on October 21 according to the Kremlin announcement.
Needless to say, if each side began detonating nuclear warheads it would be a highly escalatory and dangerous step not seen since the height of the Cold War. Already plenty of nuclear rhetoric has accompanied the proxy war in Ukraine, but so far this has just been confined to words and occasional Telegram and Truth Social 'threats'.
But Trump's wording from the start has left things somewhat ambiguous - and maybe that was his intent - with the words "start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis...". The wording doesn't itself necessitate explosive testing, also given there's been no evidence that other countries have been engaged in detonating nukes.
