Trump pushes to restart US nuclear weapons tests after three-decade pause

US President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered the United States to resume nuclear weapons testing for the first time in over 30 years, in response to Vladimir Putin’s recent announcement of Russia's advancement in nuclear capabilities.

The abrupt announcement by the US president appeared to be a show of force just minutes before his meeting in Busan, South Korea, with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.

It also reflects Trump’s tough approach to the Kremlin at a time when efforts to end the war in Ukraine have stalled.

"Because of other countries' testing programmes, I have instructed the War Department to begin testing our nuclear weapons on a level playing field," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

The Republican leader claimed that the United States has more nuclear weapons than any other country, praising his own efforts to carry out "a complete upgrade and renewal of existing weapons."

"Russia is in second place, and China is far behind, but it will be on par in five years," Trump added.

Statistics from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a leading authority on nuclear weapons, directly denies this claim. The research institute reports that Russia possesses 4,309 deployed or stored nuclear warheads, compared to 3,700 for the United States and 600 for China. 

Trump did not specify the nature of the announced tests, that is, whether they will be nuclear warhead tests, something the United States has not done since 1992, or systems capable of carrying an atomic warhead.

Washington has been a signatory to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty since 1996, meaning that any warhead test would constitute a flagrant violation of it.

"If they're doing tests, I imagine we should be doing them too," he declared aboard Air Force One. When asked about the dates and locations of the tests, he simply replied, "It will be announced. We have the sites."

China defends "non-proliferation"

The statements came in response to a series of responses by Vladimir Putin, who on Sunday celebrated the success of the final test of the Burevestnik cruise missile, which he claims has "unlimited range" and can evade nearly all interception systems.

On Wednesday, the Russian president announced the successful test of an underwater drone named Poseidon, capable of carrying nuclear warheads. "No other device in the world is like this one in terms of speed and operating depth," the Kremlin leader asserted.

Following Trump's statements, Moscow clarified that these were tests of weapons capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, and not nuclear bombs themselves.

"Regarding the Poseidon and Burevestnik tests, we hope President Trump was properly informed. This cannot be considered a nuclear test," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated.

Shortly before, China had urged the United States to "seriously" respect the ban on nuclear tests, and to take "concrete steps to preserve the global system of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation."

Last week, the US president indefinitely postponed a recently scheduled meeting with his Russian counterpart in Budapest.

Trump made clear he did not wish to hold talks "at all" before imposing new sanctions on Russian hydrocarbons.

Aside from recent events, nuclear talks have returned to global diplomacy since Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine started in February 2022.

One of Moscow’s repeated strategies is the threat of the ultimate weapon, and after the war started, after the war started it ordered "the Russian Army's deterrent forces to be placed on special combat alert."

When asked about the risk of the situation spiralling out of control, Trump replied, "I don't think so. I think it's pretty well under control."

The United States and Russia are bound in principle by the New START disarmament treaty, which limits each side to 1,550 deployed strategic offensive warheads and includes a verification mechanism which has been suspended for two years.

The treaty expires in February. Moscow proposed extending it for a year, but did not mention restarting inspections of the arsenals.

– TIEMS/AFP