Russia Is Ready To Respond If The US Conducts A Nuclear Test, But Will Not Allow The Arms Race

Illustration of the ICBM RS-24 Yars Russia. (Wikimedia Commons/Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation)

JAKARTA - Russia is ready to give the same response if the United States conducts a nuclear test, but will not allow an arms race to occur.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed Russia would respond in the same way if the US lifted the ban on nuclear testing, commenting on US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's remarks about the resumption of the trial.

"If we consider this ( Rubio's statement) as confirmation that the US lifted the trial ban, then this does indicate Washington's intention to conduct the trial, as this will end a period of a comprehensive ban on long-running nuclear trials," Peskov said. , reported from TASS November 14.

"As our president has said, in this case, Russia will respond in the same way," the Kremlin spokesman said.

Separately, Secretary of the Russian Security Council in interviews with RIA Novosti said Russian agencies and Security Council experts had begun "modeling possible responses to existing challenges and potential developments," claiming Moscow could not "stay silent" as the arms control system weakened.

He said the White House had not provided a "comprehensive explanation" of a recent US statement on nuclear testing and argued that Russia expects Washington to continue to respect its commitments under the framework of a long-standing ban on testing.

"Russia is ready for any developments, but under no circumstances will not allow the new arms race to be provoked, no matter how much our opponents want it," he said, quoted by Anadolu.

US President Donald Trump announced on October 29 that he had instructed the Pentagon to immediately resume testing nuclear weapons.

Foreign Minister Rubio then clarified on November 13, this also applies to the delivery system. However, the Foreign Minister did not explicitly confirm whether the US intends to resume a full-scale nuclear test.

On the other hand, President Vladimir Putin in a meeting with the Russian Security Council on November 5 instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, intelligence agencies, and civilian agencies to gather and analyze additional information and "propose a coordinated proposal regarding the possible start of nuclear weapons testing preparations."

Peskov then stressed President Putin was not tasked with starting trial preparations, but "instructed officials to study the feasibility of starting preparations" given US measures.