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US President Donald Trump has said the United States will restart nuclear weapons testing days after Russia announced trials of a nuclear-powered underwater drone and nuclear-capable cruise missile. “Because of other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately,” Trump wrote in a social media post before he walked into a much-anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea to strike a trade deal. As Trump has toughened both his rhetoric and his stance on Russia over its war with Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has publicly flexed his nuclear muscles with the test of a new Burevestnik cruise missile on October 21 and nuclear launch drills on October 22. Putin said on Wednesday that Russia had successfully tested a Poseidon nuclear-powered super torpedo that military analysts say is capable of devastating coastal regions by triggering vast radioactive ocean swells. But on Monday, Trump brushed off security concerns over Russia’s tests by noting the US had a nuclear submarine “right off their shores”.
