MOSCOW: Russia will respond in kind if the United States abandons the nuclear testing ban, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, commenting...
MOSCOW: Russia will respond in kind if the United States abandons the nuclear testing ban, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, commenting on remarks by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio about resuming such trials.
"If we consider this [Rubio’s words] to be confirmation that the US is lifting the ban on testing, then this indeed signifies Washington’s intention to conduct such tests, as this would interrupt a long-standing period of a comprehensive ban on nuclear testing," Peskov stated. "As our president has said, in that case, Russia will respond in kind," the Kremlin spokesman emphasized.
On October 29, US President Donald Trump announced that he had instructed the Pentagon to immediately resume nuclear weapons testing. Rubio later clarified on November 13 that this also applies to delivery systems. However, the secretary of state did not explicitly confirm whether the US intends to resume full-scale nuclear tests.
At a meeting with the Russian Security Council on November 5, President Vladimir Putin instructed the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry, the special services, and civil agencies to gather and analyze additional information and "submit coordinated proposals on the possible start of preparations for nuclear weapons testing."
Peskov then stressed that the president did not assign the task of starting preparations for testing, but "instructed officials to study the advisability of starting preparations" in light of the US moves.
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