Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Moscow is considering taking steps to resume nuclear tests.
He made the warning while cautioning President-elect Donald Trump against resuming nuclear testing next year in an interview with the Russian newspaper Kommersant.
Newsweek has contacted Russia's Ministry of Defense and the Trump-Vance transition team for comment via email.
Why It Matters
It would be extremely significant if either of the world's two biggest nuclear powers started testing nuclear weapons again—the last time either tested a nuclear bomb was in the early 1990s.
Moscow signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which prohibits nuclear explosions for civilian or military purposes, in 1996 and ratified it in 2000. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin revoked the country's ratification in 2023, bringing Moscow in line with the U.S., one of eight states that have failed to ratify the agreement.
What To Know
In the Kommersant interview Ryabkov said Trump's position on the CTBT was "radical"—in 2020, the Trump administration discussed whether to conduct the first U.S. nuclear test since 1992, the Washington Post reported at the time. Ryabkov also described American policy as "extremely hostile" toward Russia.
"I would simply like to say in this regard that the international situation is currently extremely difficult," Ryabkov said. "American policy in its various aspects is today extremely hostile toward us."
"So the options for us to act in the interests of ensuring security and the potential measures and actions we have to do this—and to send politically appropriate signals…does not rule anything out," he was quoted as saying in a translation by Reuters.
What People Are Saying
Seemingly referring to nuclear weapons, Trump said in June: "Tomorrow, we could have a war that will be so devastating that you could never recover from it. Nobody can. The whole world won't be able to recover from it."
Referring to Putin, Trump said in 2023: "He goes, 'You know, we're a great nuclear power.' He says that publicly now. He never said that when I was here. Because you don't talk about it, it's too destructive. You don't talk about it. Now they're talking about it all the time."
What Happens Next
Trump, who has said multiple times that he would be able to end the Russia-Ukraine war and deal with Moscow, will take office again on January 20. His exact policies on Russia and nuclear war remain to be seen.
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