Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday hinted at nuclear tests if United States did the same. Putin’s affirmation of Russia’s nuclear tests comes in response to US President Donald Trump’s declaration of resuming nuclear tests made weeks prior.
The Russian President’s statement came at a security council meeting in Moscow. To further his plan, he asked officials from Russia’s defence and foreign ministries and security services, to ‘gather information on this topic” and make ‘proposals on the possible start of preparation works for nuclear weapons tests”.
The Russian President has overseen a test of Russia’s strategic nuclear arsenal on land, sea and air to watch closely their readiness and command structure. ‘The so-called modernity of our nuclear deterrent forces is at the highest level,” Putin said, higher than any other nuclear power.
In another development, Russia has begun developing the next generation of nuclear-powered cruise missiles, president Vladimir Putin said as reported by the official media. Addressing an award ceremony for weapons developers in the Kremlin, Putin was cited by TASS as saying that the speed of the next generation of nuclear-powered cruise missiles will be “more than three times the speed of sound, and in the future, they will even become hypersonic.”
Donald Trump had ordered the Pentagon to begin nuclear testing ‘on an equal basis” and that the process would ‘start immediately” through social media post which he shared moments before meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea.
Talking about nuclear test, North Korea is the only country to have carried out nuclear test explosion in the 21st century, the last one in 2017.