Russia has warned it could resume nuclear weapons testing after US President Donald Trump announced plans to restart tests for the first time in more than 30 years.
According to Russian news agencies, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that he hopes Trump has been correctly informed about the latest Russian tests, which were not of nuclear weapons.
He also said Russia is prepared to continue nuclear disarmament negotiations with the United States but that Trump has not yet responded to his proposals.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump on Thursday announced the immediate start of new nuclear weapons tests, justifying the measure by citing other countries' testing programmes.
The type of tests and the weapons to be trialled remained unclear. The US last conducted tests of this kind in the 1990s.
"Until now, we were not aware that anyone was conducting tests," Peskov said.
"And if this somehow refers to the testing of the 'Burevestnik,' then this is definitely not a nuclear test."
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently confirmed successful tests of the long-range nuclear-powered missile Burevestnik.
While such missiles can be equipped with nuclear warheads, these are not used for the tests.
"All countries are continuing to develop their defence systems, but these are not nuclear tests," Peskov said.
He emphasised that the US has the right to conduct such tests as a sovereign state, but recalled Putin's earlier warnings that Russia would then react in kind.
In 2023, Putin withdrew Russia's ratification of a global nuclear test ban, and has since referred to the possibility of resuming tests. However, Russia continues to cooperate in the global monitoring of the pact.
Meanwhile, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in its latest annual report that Russia possesses 5,489 nuclear warheads, compared to 5,177 for the US and 600 for China.
In total, SIPRI estimates that the nine nuclear-armed countries — Russia, the United States, China, France, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel, and North Korea — possess more than 12,200 warheads.
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that it had been "many years" since the United States had conducted nuclear tests.
"We don't do testing... we've halted it years, many years ago," he said, adding that it was "appropriate" to start again because others are testing.
"I'd like to see denuclearisation... denuclearisation would be a tremendous thing," he said.
He claimed "it's something we are actually talking to Russia about, and China would be added to that if we do something."
Trump kept the location and dates for testing vague during the news conference, but said earlier it would "begin immediately." — dpa/Reuters
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