Putin makes new nuclear test order following Trump comments
Experts issue warning after Putin orders potential nuclear weapons test
- Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered officials to draft proposals for a potential nuclear weapons test, a step not taken by Moscow since the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991.
- Defence Minister Andrei Belousov informed Putin that recent US remarks and actions made it "advisable to prepare for full-scale nuclear tests" at the Novaya Zemlya Arctic site.
- Putin instructed various ministries and agencies to gather additional information, analyse it, and make agreed proposals on preparing for nuclear weapons tests.
- Security analysts warn that a resumption of nuclear testing would be highly destabilising at a time of acute geopolitical tension, potentially leading to an "action-reaction cycle" among nuclear powers.
- This development follows a statement from Donald Trump last week about instructing the "Department of War" to begin testing nuclear weapons on an equal basis, though the type of testing was not clarified.