Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday instructed his senior officials to begin drafting proposals for potential nuclear weapons testing, in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent statement that the United States would resume such tests. The order, delivered during a televised meeting of the Security Council, marks one of Moscow’s most explicit threats to restart nuclear experimentation since the end of the Cold War.
Putin said that Russia has “strictly adhered” to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) — an international accord that prohibits all nuclear explosions — but warned that his country would not remain passive if Washington or any other nuclear power resumed testing. “If the United States or any nuclear power conducts such tests, Russia will do so too,” he said.
The directive signals a potential unraveling of the long-standing international consensus against nuclear testing, which has held for more than three decades. The Soviet Union last carried out a test in 1990, while the United States has not conducted one since 1992. France and China followed in 1996, and post-Soviet Russia, which inherited the Soviet nuclear arsenal, has never carried out a test of its own.
Defence Minister Andrei Belousov told Putin that recent “remarks and actions” by the United States make it “advisable to prepare for full-scale nuclear tests” without delay. He identified Russia’s Arctic test site at Novaya Zemlya — a remote archipelago above the Arctic Circle — as the most likely location for any future tests, noting that the facility could be ready to host them at short notice.
In response, Putin ordered multiple agencies to begin a coordinated intelligence and planning effort. “I am instructing the Foreign Ministry, the Defence Ministry, the special services and relevant civilian agencies to collect additional information, analyse it at the Security Council, and make agreed proposals on the possible start of work on the preparation of nuclear weapons tests,” he said.
The Russian leader’s statement comes amid rising geopolitical tension and a breakdown in arms control dialogue between Moscow and Washington. The New START treaty — the last remaining nuclear arms limitation pact between the two powers — is under severe strain following Russia’s suspension of participation in 2023.
Analysts say that renewed nuclear testing by either side would mark a dangerous escalation in the global arms race, signaling a collapse of decades of restraint. Experts have also warned that such a move could encourage other nuclear-armed nations, including China, North Korea, and India, to follow suit, raising the risk of a new era of weapons competition and environmental fallout.
While Putin framed his order as a defensive measure, Western observers view it as part of a broader campaign of strategic intimidation — a reminder that Russia remains a nuclear superpower capable of matching or exceeding any American move. For now, no timeline for potential tests has been announced, but Putin’s directive suggests that Russia is preparing to move quickly if the United States takes the first step.
If carried out, a resumption of nuclear weapons testing by the world’s two largest nuclear powers would represent a historic reversal — and a chilling sign that the fragile architecture of global arms control may be nearing collapse.
