Moscow has stressed that its recent weapons tests were ‘not nuclear’ after Donald Trump announced the US would begin testing its own nukes.
The Kremlin said its testing of nuclear-powered nuclear-capable weapons – the Burevestnik cruise missile and the Poseidon underwater drone – did not constitute a direct test of an atomic weapon.
Both countries observe a de facto moratorium on testing nuclear warheads, though Russia regularly runs military drills involving systems that are capable of carrying such weapons.
‘Regarding the tests of Poseidon and Burevestnik, we hope that the information was conveyed correctly to President Trump,’ Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during a daily briefing.
‘This cannot in any way be interpreted as a nuclear test,’ he added.
Trump said Thursday he was ordering the US tests as a response to actions by other states.
‘Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis,’ he said Thursday in a social media post.
But it was not immediately clear if Trump was referring to testing nuclear warheads – something the United States last did in 1992 – or testing weapons systems capable of carrying atomic warheads.
Trump said Thursday he was ordering the US tests as a response to actions by other states
In 2023, strategic experts warned that the Poseidon torpedo would have the potential to devastate a coastal city, cause radioactive floods, and result in millions of deaths
The Kremlin said its testing of nuclear-powered nuclear-capable weapons – the Burevestnik cruise missile and the Poseidon underwater drone – did not constitute a direct test of an atomic weapon
The Kremlin implied Thursday that it would also test nuclear warheads if Trump ordered a live test of an atomic weapon.
‘If someone departs from the moratorium, Russia will act accordingly,’ Peskov said.
Putin yesterday boasted that Russia had successfully tested its nuclear-capable underwater ‘Poseidon’ drone which the country previously claimed could bring mass destruction to the West by sparking ‘radioactive tsunamis’.
In televised remarks while visiting a military hospital for Russian soldiers today, Putin said: ‘Yesterday, another test was conducted for another prospective system – the unmanned underwater device ‘Poseidon,’ also equipped with a nuclear power unit.’
The Russian leader said there was ‘no way to intercept’ the drone torpedo, which, according to Putin, can travel at a speed higher than conventional submarines and reach any continent in the world.
Putin said no country could match Poseidon’s speed and diving depth, adding, ‘it is unlikely that anything similar will appear in the near future.’
The device can operate at a depth of more than one kilometre and travel at speeds of up to 70 knots while remaining undetectable, according to a source in the Russian military-industrial complex quoted by state news agency TASS.
In 2023, strategic experts warned that the Poseidon torpedo would have the potential to devastate a coastal city, cause radioactive floods, and result in millions of deaths.
The Poseidon test came after Putin oversaw a test of another nuclear-capable cruise missile, which he said had an ‘unlimited range’.
Trump responded by urging Putin to focus instead on ending the war in Ukraine.
Putin said on Sunday that Russia had successfully tested its ‘unstoppable’ nuclear-powered cruise missile, known as the ‘Flying Chernobyl’, with an 8,700-mile test flight.
Moscow said the weapon can pierce any defence shield, and has ‘unlimited range’.
Asked on Air Force One about the test of the missile, dubbed the SSC-X-9 Skyfall by NATO, Trump said the United States did not need its nukes to fly so far as it had a nuclear submarine off the coast of Russia.
Putin said no country could match Poseidon’s speed and diving depth, adding, ‘it is unlikely that anything similar will appear in the near future’
Putin revealed a ‘successful’ secret flight on October 21 of the Burevestnik doomsday winged rocket, dubbed the ‘Flying Chernobyl’, which has an ‘unlimited range’
‘They know we have a nuclear submarine, the greatest in the world, right off their shores, so I mean, [our missile] doesn’t have to go 8,000 miles,’ Trump told reporters, according to an audio file posted by the White House.
‘I don’t think it’s an appropriate thing for Putin to be saying, either, by the way: You ought to get the war ended, the war that should have taken one week is now in… its fourth year, that’s what you ought to do instead of testing missiles.’
In response to Trump on Monday, the Kremlin defiantly said that Russia would be guided by its own national interests.
‘Despite all our openness to establishing a dialogue with the United States, Russia, first of all, and the president of Russia, is guided by our own national interests,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
‘That’s how it was, that’s how it is, and that’s how it’s going to be.’
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said if the United States started testing nuclear weapons again, Russia would follow suit.
In 1996, the two countries signed – but have not ratified – the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which bans all atomic test blasts, whether for military or civilian purposes.
Announcing the recent tests, Putin boasted that Russia’s new nuclear-powered devices could reach any continent in the world and were impervious to defences.
Russia and the United States hold 90 percent of the world’s nuclear arsenal, or about 11,000 warheads, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).