Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed on Saturday that Moscow has begun implementing President Vladimir Putin’s directive to assess the feasibility of resuming nuclear weapons testing, a move that has reignited concerns about a potential new era of nuclear brinkmanship between Russia and the United States.
Lavrov told reporters that the Foreign Ministry, along with the Ministry of Defence, intelligence services, and other civilian agencies, was already working on Putin’s instruction to study preparations for possible nuclear tests. The directive was issued during a Russian Security Council meeting on November 5, at which Lavrov was not present.
“The instruction given by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Security Council meeting on November 5 has been accepted for implementation and is being worked on,” Lavrov was quoted as saying by Russian state news agencies TASS and RIA Novosti. He added, “The public will be informed of the results.”
Putin’s order came after US President Donald Trump announced last week that Washington plans to resume nuclear testing for the first time in more than 30 years, in what he described as an effort to ensure “parity” with Russia and China. The statement has rattled non-proliferation experts, who fear the collapse of the decades-long moratorium on nuclear testing that has been observed by major powers since the 1990s.
At the Security Council meeting, Putin said Russia would only resume nuclear tests if the United States did so first, calling the moratorium a cornerstone of strategic stability but warning that Moscow would not allow itself to fall behind in nuclear deterrence capabilities. “We must be prepared for all scenarios,” Putin said, instructing his ministries to submit detailed proposals on the logistics, safety, and technical requirements of such a move.
Lavrov confirmed that Moscow had not yet received any formal communication or clarification from Washington regarding Trump’s statement on nuclear testing. “So far, we have not received any explanation of what President Donald Trump meant when he announced the resumption of nuclear tests,” Lavrov told journalists.
The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), adopted in 1996, bans all nuclear explosions for both civilian and military purposes. While Russia ratified the treaty in 2000, the United States signed it but never ratified it, effectively keeping the door open for a potential resumption of testing. Both nations, however, have observed a voluntary moratorium on testing since the early 1990s.
Russia’s possible return to nuclear testing comes at a time of heightened geopolitical tension. The war in Ukraine, Western sanctions, and the collapse of multiple arms control agreements — including the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty — have all contributed to a breakdown in trust between Moscow and Washington.
Arms control experts say that if both countries resume testing, it could trigger a new global arms race, with China, North Korea, and other nuclear-capable states following suit. “This would be a catastrophic reversal of decades of nuclear restraint,” said Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists.
Moscow has recently accused the United States of conducting “subcritical” nuclear experiments — tests that simulate nuclear detonations without causing an actual explosion — in violation of the spirit of the CTBT. Washington has made similar allegations against Russia.
Putin’s directive to study the technical and political feasibility of nuclear testing is seen by analysts as part of a broader strategy to signal strength and exert pressure on the US amid deteriorating relations.
Lavrov emphasized that Russia’s nuclear policy remains defensive in nature and guided by the doctrine of deterrence, but warned that “any step by the US to resume testing would not go unanswered.”
The Kremlin has not yet indicated where a potential test could take place, though experts speculate it would likely be conducted at the Novaya Zemlya testing site in the Arctic, which was used extensively during the Soviet era.
If implemented, the move would mark Russia’s first full-scale nuclear test since 1990, representing a dramatic escalation in the ongoing geopolitical confrontation and a major setback for global nuclear non-proliferation efforts.
