On Saturday the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told TASS (Russian News Agency) that the possibility of Russia resuming nuclear weapons tests is on the agenda. Russia last detonated a nuclear weapon in 1990 and the U.S. in 1992.
“Does Moscow allow the resumption of nuclear tests in response to the U.S. escalation course?,” TASS asked Ryabkov, translated from Russian to English.
“This question is worth it. And I, without anticipating anything, will just say that the situation is quite difficult. It is constantly considered in the whole complex of its components and in all aspects,” Ryabkov told TASS, translated from Russian to English.
Pravda reported a summation of the interview in English, key points include:
- The US needs to understand that Moscow’s messages about various possible scenarios aren’t propaganda but a reality
- Russia is considering a resumption of nuclear tests as the US pursues escalatory policies
- The US won’t stop Russia from achieving the goals of its special military operation
- The West may well just set the money intended for Ukraine on fire because it will be wasted in any case
- Washington’s actions against Moscow undermine its own competitiveness
- Russia will ensure continued uranium exports to other customers after introducing restrictions on supplies to the US
- Russia intends to release the complete list of the BRICS group’s partner states before the end of the year
- No country that received an invitation to become a BRICS partner state has rejected it
Interestingly, the Russian sources TASS and Pravda seemingly leave out the part of the interview regarding resuming nuclear weapons tests in their English versions, while RT headlined with it in their English version. Reuters, founded in England by a German and now corporate-owned with its headquarters in Canada, does report on the possibility of new Russian nuclear tests.
“A possible resumption of nuclear weapons tests by Moscow remains an open question in view of hostile U.S. policies, a senior Russian diplomat was quoted as saying early on Saturday,” Reuters said Saturday. “‘This is a question at hand,’ Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told TASS news agency when asked whether Moscow was considering a resumption of tests.”
The Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies published a paper in June regarding the nuclear threat escalation ladder. In it was a section on resuming nuclear weapons tests.
“‘Preventive’ nuclear tests could be the next stage of escalation, conducted under the guise of similar intentions by the United States. It is relevant to recall that in 2023, in his Address to the Federal Assembly, Putin stated, ‘Given these circumstances, the Defence Ministry and Rosatom must make everything ready for Russia to conduct nuclear tests.’ A year later, on Putin’s initiative, the Russian parliament cancelled its decision to ratify the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The resumption of nuclear testing will inevitably open Pandora’s box in an immediate nuclear confrontation, during which Russia may resort to various kinds of demonstrations to show how great the threat of nuclear war is. The first steps have already been taken in this regard. Moscow is assumed to have deployed nuclear weapons in Belarus,” The Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies said in June.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comments on the matter date back to February 2023.
“Given these circumstances, the Defence Ministry and Rosatom must make everything ready for Russia to conduct nuclear tests. We will not be the first to proceed with these tests, but if the United States goes ahead with them, we will as well. No one should harbour dangerous illusions that global strategic parity can be disrupted,” Putin said in 2023, according to the Russian Government.
Thousands of nuclear tests took place in the second-half of the Twentieth Century. Only two were used in war, both by the U.S. against cities in Japan. The Smithsonian posted a video of the disturbing and horrifying accounts of the Japanese who survived being nuked by Democrat President Harry Truman, who began to laugh 2:30 into the video of his announcement of the attack.