Russia rejects Trump’s allegations of underground nuclear tests, warns: ‘We would conduct a nuke test if…

Days after US President Donald Trump accused Russia of testing nuclear weapons, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday (Nov 11) that Moscow was "ready" to discuss Washington's accusations. He also clarified that Moscow will conduct nuclear tests if any other nuclear power does so. Tensions escalated between Russia and the US after Trump ordered testing of atomic weapons, claiming that Russia had carried out secret underground nuclear tests. Trump had also accused China of testing nuclear weapons in an interview with US broadcaster CBS News earlier this month.

Lavrov in his statement said, “We are ready to discuss the suspicions raised by our American colleagues regarding the possibility that we might be secretly doing something deep underground.” “Putin outlined our position back in 2023, when he was asked about this issue during one of his speeches,” Lavrov told reporters, adding, “He stated that if any of the nuclear powers conducts a nuclear weapons test – not a carrier test or a subcritical experiment, but an actual nuclear weapons test – then Russia will respond in kind.”

He denied Trump's claims and said the United States could check whether Russia tested a nuclear warhead via the global seismic monitoring system. "Other tests, both subcritical, or those without a chain nuclear reaction, and carrier tests, have never been prohibited," Lavrov added.

While it is being speculated that Trump has doubled down on Putin after shelving any plans to meet him for resolving Ukraine war issue, Lavrov said that the two issues were not connected. "I would not mix the topic of nuclear tests with the topic of the Budapest summit," he said. He also said Moscow was still open to a possible meeting between Putin and Trump. “We are ready to discuss with our American colleagues the resumption of preparatory work for the proposed summit of the leaders of Russia and the United States.”

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