Overview
- Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Putin’s Nov. 5 instruction to develop options for a possible test has been accepted for implementation, with results to be reported later.
- Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Putin has not ordered the start of preparations, calling any move a serious decision still under review by specialists.
- Officials have given no dates or technical specifics, and any test would be Russia’s first in more than three decades.
- Russia says it remains committed to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty yet does not rule out symmetrical measures if the United States proceeds.
- The deliberations follow President Donald Trump’s declaration to resume U.S. nuclear testing and an unarmed ICBM test launch carried out days later.