Russia demands clarification as Trump Signals US Return to Nuclear Weapons Testing
Vienna – Russia is seeking answers from the United States following former President Donald Trump’s recent proclamation that the US would resume nuclear weapons testing. During a meeting of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Association (CTBTO), Russian delegates repeatedly pressed their American counterparts for clarification on the scope and intent of Trump’s statement, but received no response, according to Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s representative to international organizations.
Ulyanov detailed the exchange on his X (formerly Twitter) page, stating the US delegation “focused only on technical and financial issues and accused Russia of nuclear tests (of course, we have not seen any evidence of this either. This is not good and quite strange).”
Trump announced last week that the US would resume testing, citing actions by other nations as justification. The ambiguity surrounding the announcement – whether it refers to testing of launch vehicles, as the US has previously conducted, or the detonation of actual nuclear warheads – is fueling international concern and Moscow’s demand for transparency.
The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, signed in 1996, prohibits all nuclear explosions, though it has not been ratified by all nations, including the United States. A US resumption of testing would represent a notable departure from decades of established policy and could trigger a new arms race. The treaty‘s purpose is to prevent the advancement of new nuclear weapons and the proliferation of nuclear technology.
The lack of clarity from Washington is raising questions about the strategic rationale behind Trump’s announcement and its potential implications for global security. the CTBTO meeting was intended to reinforce the treaty’s norms, but the US silence has cast a shadow over those efforts.
(Cover image source: The White House / Public domain)
