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Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that his country is ready to resume nuclear weapons testing if the United States decides to end the moratorium that has been in place for more than three decades. The statement came in response to remarks from President Donald Trump, who recently declared that he had ordered the Pentagon to “immediately” resume the U.S. nuclear testing program.

During the latest meeting of the Russian Security Council, Putin ordered ministers and intelligence chiefs to prepare “coherent proposals regarding possible steps toward resuming testing.” He emphasized that Russia would be “obliged to take reciprocal measures” if any signatory to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) conducts a new test.

“I will instruct the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, as well as relevant civilian agencies and intelligence services to collect information, analyze it, and present proposals for possible initial steps,” Putin said, according to a transcript published by the Kremlin.

Russia has not conducted nuclear tests since 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed. However, tensions between Moscow and Washington — the world’s two largest nuclear powers — have sharply escalated in recent weeks. Trump’s decision to resume testing came just days after he criticized Moscow for testing the new Burevestnik missile, a nuclear-powered weapon capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

Russian response and potential test site

Defense Minister Andrei Belousov stated during the meeting that U.S. actions “significantly increase the level of military threat toward Russia” and stressed that it is essential to keep Russian nuclear forces “in a state of readiness to inflict unacceptable losses on an adversary.”

According to Belousov, the test site on Novaya Zemlya in the Arctic remains technically operational and could be reactivated “in a short time.” Chief of the General Staff General Valery Gerasimov warned that a lack of response from Russia “could deprive the country of the ability to respond adequately in due time.”

The Kremlin has not set a deadline for developing recommendations. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the TASS news agency that Russia “will not make hasty decisions” until it gains full clarity on the United States’ actual intentions.

Background: three decades of nuclear silence

The last U.S. nuclear test took place in 1992, after President George H.W. Bush introduced a moratorium that has remained in effect ever since. Since the opening of the CTBT in 1996, only three countries have carried out nuclear explosions: India and Pakistan in 1998, and North Korea — five times between 2006 and 2017.

Although Trump’s decision remains vague — it is unclear whether it refers to explosive tests or only to flight tests of nuclear delivery systems — analysts warn that even symbolic actions could destabilize the fragile nuclear order that has existed since the end of the Cold War.

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