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The Russian presidency on Thursday commented on President Donald Trump’s instruction to the Pentagon to resume nuclear arsenal testing immediately.
On Wednesday, the United States leader announced he had ordered the Department of War to carry out nukes assessments, the first time in more than three decades.
Reacting, Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov clarified that Russia’s tests of the Burevestnik missile do not fall under the category of nuclear weapons tests restricted by international treaties.
“If [Trump] in some way refers to the Burevestnik tests as a nuclear test carried out by another country, that is in no way accurate,” TASS quoted him as saying.
Peskov said that although several countries continue to advance the development of their defense systems, such actions do not constitute a nuclear assessment.
In a post on X, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Washington was restarting atomic weapons testing after “demonizing” the nation’s nuclear program and threatening further strikes on its nuclear facilities.
Araghchi called the test resumption a “regressive and irresponsible move” that threaten international peace and security, urging the world to hold the U.S. accountable for “normalizing the proliferation of heinous weapons.”
The Russian military on October 21 tested the new Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile, which President Vladimir Putin dubbed the most powerful in the world.
Nuclear preparedness drills were conducted on October 22, and on October 28, an autonomous torpedo called “Poseidon” was tested. The unmanned underwater vehicle is equipped with a nuclear power unit.
In a post on X, the Russian military wrote: “There are no means capable of intercepting the Poseidon. No system compares to it in speed & operational depth. No rival is likely to appear soon.”
According to the Washington-based Arms Control Association, America has 5,225 nuclear warheads, while Russia has 5,580. China is expected to double its warheads to more than 1,000 by 2030.
