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Moscow on Thursday sought to ease escalating tensions with Washington over nuclear weapons after tests of two Russian nuclear-capable systems prompted US President Donald Trump to call for American drills. The Kremlin insisted that its recent tests of the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile and the Poseidon underwater drone did not amount to a direct test of an atomic warhead. Both the United States and Russia observe a de facto moratorium on testing nuclear warheads, though Moscow frequently conducts military exercises involving weapons capable of carrying nuclear payloads. “Regarding the tests of Poseidon and Burevestnik, we hope that the information was conveyed correctly to President Trump,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during a briefing on Thursday. “This cannot in any way be interpreted as a nuclear test,” he added. Earlier, Trump had announced that he was instructing the US military to conduct nuclear weapons tests in response to the actions of other nations. “Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis,” he said in a social media post. It remained unclear whether the president was referring to live nuclear warhead tests, which the United States last conducted in 1992, or to exercises with weapons systems capable of carrying atomic warheads. Peskov warned that Russia would respond if the United States departed from the informal moratorium. “If someone departs from the moratorium, Russia will act accordingly,” he said. President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that any US resumption of nuclear testing would prompt Moscow to follow suit. Russia and the US are estimated to hold roughly 90 percent of the world’s nuclear arsenal, with about 11,000 warheads between them, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Putin has previously claimed that Russia’s new nuclear-powered weapons can reach any continent and are largely impervious to defence systems. (With inputs from agencies)
