Russian Presidential Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied allegations that Russia had conducted nuclear tests, Russian state media reported.
Peskov stressed that US President Donald Trump’s statements about Moscow’s alleged nuclear tests are untrue. “We hope that information about the Burevestnik and Poseidon systems was correctly conveyed to President Trump in the sense that this in no way can be interpreted as nuclear tests,” the Kremlin representative emphasized.
When asked about the directive of the American leader who instructed the Pentagon to prepare tests of US nuclear weapons, Peskov noted that “the United States is a sovereign country and has the right to make its own decisions.” However, according to him, Russia has not received notifications of such intentions.
In addition, the Kremlin representative touched upon the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). According to him, the United States has not yet sent Moscow specific proposals for a treaty on the reduction of strategic offensive weapons. Peskov noted that the New START issue and possible nuclear tests are not related to each other. “We do not believe that a new round of the arms race has begun,” he added.
Previously, US President Donald Trump instructed the Pentagon to prepare tests of American nuclear weapons, saying that the United States must “maintain readiness to deter any threat.” His statement came against the backdrop of Western media reports about Russia allegedly testing new strategic systems of the Poseidon underwater drone and the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile.
Moscow has repeatedly emphasized that these projects are purely defensive in nature and their tests have nothing to do with nuclear explosions.