Kremlin clarifies Russia still adheres to nuclear moratorium, dismissing remarks by RT chief

The Kremlin has made clear that Russia has not abandoned a moratorium on nuclear testing. It also dismissed a suggestion by the editor of a state-backed channel that Russia should stage a thermonuclear explosion in Siberia to send a strong message to the West.

Reacting to the remarks by Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of state-funded broadcaster RT, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia has not left the regime of abandoning nuclear tests.

"I don't think such discussions are possible now from an official point of view," Peskov said, adding that Simonyan's words did not "always" reflect Moscow's official position.

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Remarks by the chief editor of RT

Earlier, Simonyan said that the crisis in Ukraine was fast moving towards a nuclear Armageddon and West’s provocation won’t stop until Russia sent a clear message.

"A nuclear ultimatum is becoming more and more imminent and more and more impossible to avoid," Simonyan said. "They will not backpedal unless it is painful for them," she added.

Russia boasts the world’s largest nuclear stockpile, and its leader Vladimir Putin has repeatedly cautioned the West that any attack on Russia could trigger a nuclear retaliation.

When did the nuclear race begin?

In July 1945, the United States initiated the nuclear race with a 20-kiloton atomic bomb test in Alamogordo, New Mexico.

In August of the same year, atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, marking the conclusion of World War Two.

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Just four years later, in August 1949, the Soviet Union stunned the Western world by detonating its first nuclear bomb.

During the five decades spanning from 1945 to the signing of the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, more than 2,000 nuclear tests were carried out.

Of these, 1,032 were conducted by the United States, and 715 were carried out by the Soviet Union, as reported by the United Nations.

In February, Putin suspended Russia's participation in the New START treaty, which was the last significant arms control agreement between Russia and the United States. He also warned that if the United States resumed nuclear testing, Russia would follow suit.

Recent reports from The New York Times, although unconfirmed, claim that satellite imagery and aviation data indicate Russia may be preparing to test an experimental nuclear-powered cruise missile or may have already conducted such a test.

Russia obviously denies such claims.

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