Trump’s Instructions to Resume Nuclear Testing Need Explaining — Russian Envoy

As Mikhail Ulyanov noted, the US president said that his decision had been motivated by other countries carrying out nuclear tests

Russia's Permanent Representative to International Organisations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov Rosatom State Corporation/TASS

© Rosatom State Corporation/TASS

VIENNA, October 31. /TASS/. Remarks by US President Donald Trump that he has instructed the Pentagon to immediately resume nuclear weapons tests demand explanations, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, said.

"President Trump’s decision to direct the Pentagon to immediately resume the tests of US nuclear arms demands further explanations," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

The Russian envoy explained that the US president said that his decision had been motivated by other countries carrying out nuclear tests. "But the thing is that they are not conducting nuclear explosion tests banned under the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty," he noted. Ulyanov pointed out that Russia recently held a test of nuclear delivery vehicles and not of nuclear explosives.

On October 29, Trump announced that he had instructed the Pentagon to immediately resume nuclear weapons testing. He did not specify the type of tests or whether they would involve nuclear detonations.

Meanwhile, Vladimir Yermakov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control, told TASS in an interview last February that several indirect signs indicate Washington may still be preparing to resume full-scale nuclear testing. The Russian leadership has repeatedly warned that if the US takes this step, Moscow will be forced to respond in kind.