Russian President Vladimir Putin has directed top officials to prepare proposals for a possible resumption of nuclear weapons testing, a move that has sent ripples through the global security community and reignited fears of a new nuclear arms race. The decision, announced during a televised Security Council meeting in Moscow on Wednesday, November 5, 2025, comes as a direct response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent and controversial statements suggesting that the United States will restart nuclear testing after more than three decades of moratorium.
Putin’s remarks were unequivocal. He called President Trump’s comments “a serious issue” and made clear that while Russia has no immediate plans to violate international nuclear test agreements, it cannot ignore signals from Washington. According to Bloomberg, Putin stated, “Russia has always strictly adhered to its obligations under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, and we have no plans to deviate from these commitments.” However, he added, “If the US or another power conducts such a test, Russia would also be required to take appropriate retaliatory measures.”
The Security Council meeting, which had originally been scheduled to discuss transport security, quickly shifted focus as Speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin pressed members to address the implications of Washington’s announcement. The urgency was palpable. Defense Minister Andrei Belousov warned that the United States was actively building up its strategic forces and planning to deploy new weapons. “Abandonment of the nuclear tests moratorium could destroy global strategic safety,” Belousov cautioned, as reported by Investing.com.
Belousov, along with General Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s chief of the General Staff, advocated for immediate preparations for full-scale nuclear testing, should the U.S. proceed. Belousov specifically pointed to the Arctic Novaya Zemlya archipelago, the site of the Soviet Union’s last nuclear test in 1990, as a location ready to host such tests at short notice. Gerasimov pressed the urgency further, stating, “If we do not take appropriate measures now, time and opportunities for a timely response to the actions of the United States will be lost, since the time required to prepare for nuclear tests, depending on their type, ranges from several months to several years.”
Putin’s instructions were precise: the Foreign Ministry, Defence Ministry, special services, and relevant civilian agencies are to “do everything possible to collect additional information on the issue, analyze it at the Security Council, and make agreed proposals on the possible start of work on the preparation of nuclear weapons tests,” according to Reuters. Notably, Putin did not set a specific deadline for these proposals. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov clarified to state news agency TASS, “In order to come to a conclusion about the advisability of beginning preparations for such tests, it will take exactly as much time as it takes for us to fully understand the intentions of the United States of America.”
The backdrop to this escalation is the sharp deterioration of U.S.-Russia relations in recent weeks. Trump, frustrated by stalled progress on the conflict in Ukraine, not only canceled a planned summit with Putin but also imposed fresh sanctions on Russia—the first since his return to the White House in January. The timing of Trump’s announcement—made via social media while in South Korea and just days after Russia’s successful tests of new nuclear-powered cruise missiles and the Poseidon underwater drone—has added to the sense of brinkmanship. Putin’s praise for these new weapons, which he claims are virtually impossible to intercept, was widely interpreted as a message to Washington that Moscow remains resolute in its demands regarding Ukraine.
Yet, there is considerable ambiguity about what Trump’s order actually entails. While Trump declared that testing would resume “on an equal basis” with Russia and China, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright clarified on November 2 that the new tests “will not include nuclear explosions.” Trump himself, when pressed by reporters aboard Air Force One, said, “You’ll find out very soon, but we’re going to do some testing. Other countries do it. If they’re going to do it, we’re going to do it, OK?” The lack of clarity has only fueled anxiety in Moscow and beyond.
Russia’s response has not been limited to internal deliberations. Russian Ambassador to Washington Alexander Darchiev sent a telegram to U.S. officials seeking clarification on Trump’s statements, but, as Sergey Naryshkin, chief of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, noted, “Representatives from both the White House and the U.S. State Department declined to comment, stating that they would report the information to their superiors and contact the Russian side if it will be deemed necessary to provide clarification.”
The international context further complicates matters. The United States has not conducted a nuclear test since 1992, while China and France last did so in 1996, and the Soviet Union in 1990. North Korea remains the only country to have carried out explosive nuclear tests in the 21st century, most recently in 2017. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, though signed by the U.S. during Bill Clinton’s presidency, was never ratified by the Senate. Russia, for its part, revoked its own ratification in 2023, citing the need to maintain parity with Washington.
Security analysts warn that a resumption of nuclear testing by any major power could unleash a destabilizing chain reaction. Andrey Baklitskiy, a senior researcher at the UN Institute for Disarmament Research, summed up the prevailing mood with a note of grim irony: “Action-reaction cycle at its best. No one needs this, but we might get there regardless.”
Adding to the uncertainty, Russia’s recent tests of the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile and the Poseidon super-torpedo—both capable of carrying nuclear warheads—did not involve nuclear explosions. These demonstrations, however, underscored Russia’s ongoing commitment to modernizing its strategic arsenal and its willingness to showcase capabilities as a form of deterrence.
Deputy Security Council head Dmitry Medvedev captured the Kremlin’s wariness, posting on X, “No one knows what Trump meant about ‘nuclear testing’ (he probably doesn’t himself). But he’s the president of the United States. And the consequences of such words are inescapable: Russia will be forced to assess the expediency of conducting full-fledged nuclear tests itself.”
As the world watches and waits, both sides appear locked in a tense standoff, each wary of making the first move but unwilling to fall behind. For now, Putin has stopped short of ordering the immediate start of nuclear test preparations, but his message is clear: Russia will not be caught unprepared if the U.S. crosses the nuclear testing threshold. The coming weeks may prove pivotal, as both nations weigh the risks of reigniting a nuclear arms race that the world thought it had left behind.
