Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned American Donald Trump that his country will again test weapons of mass destruction if Washington takes the first step. A few days ago, Trump ordered the resumption of nuclear weapons testing — paralyzed for more than 30 years — after the Kremlin itself tested new missiles and underwater drones capable of bringing the apocalypse tens of thousands of kilometers away. In less than three months, both presidents have gone from the camaraderie they staged at their meeting in Alaska in August to exchanging threats to detonate nuclear bombs.
“If the United States or other participants in the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) carry out these tests, Russia must also take appropriate measures,” Putin stressed before the Russian Security Council this Wednesday. “Russia has always strictly complied with its obligations with the treaty and we have no plans to breach them,” the Russian leader assured the main officials of the nation’s security and defense apparatus. But he then clarified that Moscow will consider the pact a dead letter if another country fails to comply.
The Russian authorities thus sent a clear message to Washington, although they left open the possibility of backing down. Some members of the Russian Security Council stated that it was not clear what Trump had meant when he announced through his social network the resumption of American tests “on equal terms” with “nuclear testing programs carried out by other countries.”
What was supposed to be a regular meeting of the Russian Security Council on transportation issues suddenly became a warning to the United States through appeals to Putin from its senior officials.
State Duma Chairman Viacheslav Volodin addressed the issue of the alleged need for nuclear tests during his speaking turn. Later, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov declared that his forces are prepared to detonate a nuclear warhead.
“It is advisable to immediately begin preparations for large-scale nuclear tests. The availability of the Novaya Zemlya test site allows for their rapid implementation,” Belousov said.
This archipelago in the Arctic Circle was one of the Soviet Union’s main nuclear test sites. Moscow has not carried out any tests, at least officially, since 1990, the year before the collapse of the USSR. Both the Kremlin and the White House signed the treaty in 1996 with a commitment to end all nuclear testing, but the US Parliament never ratified it and Putin revoked its approval in 2023.
Both the former Minister of Defense and current president of the Russian Security Council, Sergei Shoigu, and the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Narishkin, declared that they had tried to obtain information from their North American counterpart without success. “We do not fully understand the measures and actions that the United States will take,” Shoigu admitted.
Qualitative leap
Despite the good words that Putin and Trump have said to each other during negotiations on the future of Ukraine, their arms race has taken a qualitative leap this year.
Trump announced in May the future deployment of a space anti-missile system whose initial cost is estimated at $175 billion. Its Golden Dome, made up of an advanced network of satellites and interceptors, will protect, in theory, the entire US territory against a possible attack at any point on its border.
Russia, for its part, has tested in recent days two weapons that Putin defined as “invincible” during his presentation to the world in 2018. These are the Poseidon underwater drone and the 9M730 Burevestnik missile, both powered by nuclear engines. Despite its low speed, less than the speed of sound, its strong point is its unlimited range: the Poseidon can navigate thousands of kilometers without being detected, and the Burevestnik is capable of surrounding the entire Pacific to attack the less defended North American southern flank.
However, Trump’s Golden Dome is capable, at least in theory, of defusing this threat. This strategic imbalance provoked the ire of Putin, who emphasized in September that he did not rule out even a military escalation. “I emphasize, and no one should doubt it, that Russia is capable of responding to any existing or emerging threat, and this response will not be verbal, but through the use of technical-military measures,” the Russian leader then noted.
