Russia increases alert after Trump calls for resuming nuclear weapons tests
President Donald Trump’s call for the United States to resume nuclear weapons testing after a more than 30-year moratorium has drawn a cautious response from Russia, with the Kremlin warning Thursday that it would “act accordingly” if the Cold War-era testing ban were broken.
Trump, ahead of his high-profile talks with China’s President Xi Jinping in Asia, said he instructed the Pentagon—referred to by him as the “Department of War”—to restart nuclear testing. On his Truth Social platform, he wrote that the U.S. has the most nuclear weapons in the world, followed by Russia and China, and that testing would begin “on an equal basis” due to other countries’ programs.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded to the announcement, emphasizing that no nuclear tests were known to be occurring elsewhere and that Russia’s recent missile tests, including the Burevestnik long-range cruise missile, did not constitute nuclear tests. Peskov added that the U.S. has the right to make sovereign decisions, but reiterated Russian President Vladimir Putin’s position that if the moratorium is broken, Russia would respond. He offered no further specifics.
Despite decades of treaties aimed at curbing nuclear testing, including the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963 and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, tensions persist among nuclear powers. The U.S. officially ceased testing in 1992, and neither China nor Russia is known to have conducted nuclear tests since the 1990s, although Russia withdrew its ratification of the treaty in 2023.
Trump’s announcement comes shortly after Russia tested the Burevestnik missile, which Moscow touted as “invincible” with an unlimited range and the ability to evade defenses. Trump dismissed the test, urging Russia to focus on ending the war in Ukraine.
The comments also coincided with Trump’s diplomatic engagement with Xi Jinping in South Korea, where the leaders reported productive talks on rare earth supplies, American energy purchases, and the reduction of China-related tariffs. Trump described the meeting as “amazing” and announced a one-year agreement with China on rare earth supplies, while Xi emphasized that Beijing and Washington should act as “partners and friends.”
The apparent closeness of the Trump-Xi discussions, coupled with concrete trade agreements, is likely to be closely monitored in Moscow, given China’s role as one of Russia’s few remaining strategic allies. On Ukraine, Trump indicated that the conflict was discussed but expressed frustration with ongoing hostilities, stating, “The two sides are locked in fighting, and sometimes you’ve got to let them fight, I guess. Crazy.”
Russia did not provide an immediate comment on the Trump-Xi talks.
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