Russia's Lavrov says 'preparing' for nuclear test on orders from President Putin

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday hinted at Moscow resuming nuclear tests on the orders of President Vladimir Putin's. Officials are preparing a proposal in this regard, reported state news agency TASS. "Regarding President Vladimir Putin's instruction at the Security Council meeting on November 5, it has been accepted for implementation and is being worked on. The public will be informed of the results."

The move comes amid US President Donlad Trump's surprise announcement last week that Washington would resume nuke testing.

Russia-US relation has dipped in the last few weeks for the reason that Trump's efforts to ending the war in Ukraine has not yielded much results, thus leading to sanctions by the US on Russia. Trump has also cancelled a planned summit with Putin.

What did Trump say on nuke tests, raising concerns in Moscow?

On Nov 2, Trump claimed that other nations like Pakistan, North Korea, China, and Russia were conducting secret underground nuclear tests and that there was a need for US to do the same.

“No, we’re going to test because they test and others test. And certainly North Korea’s been testing. Pakistan’s been testing," Trump said.

“You don’t necessarily know where they’re testing. They test way underground where people don’t know exactly what’s happening with the test," he added.

The comments came days after Trump ordered the US military to prepare for new nuclear weapons tests, the first since 1992. He argued that the move was necessary to ensure America’s arsenal remains reliable and to match what he described as covert testing by rival powers.

The last time US tested nuclear weapons

The last American nuclear test took place in September 1992 under Operation Julin, a series of seven underground explosions conducted before Washington signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The treaty, which bans all nuclear explosions for both civilian and military purposes, has been signed by 187 countries and ratified by 178. However, the United States — while a signatory — never ratified the CTBT, leaving room for future administrations to legally resume testing.