Breaking: Russia should 'begin preparations for full-scale nuclear tests immediately,' defense minister says

Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said on Nov. 5 that Russia should begin immediate preparations for full-scale nuclear tests.

He spoke at a televised meeting of Russia’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin.

“The U.S. is engaged in the accelerated modernization of its strategic offensive weapons,” Belousov said. “I believe it is advisable to begin preparations immediately.”

Putin asked Belousov and the council to study the issue further.

“I want to emphasize: the president did not give an order to start preparing the tests. The president instructed to work out the issue of the feasibility of starting preparations for such tests. This is what they will be doing now,” Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, told TASS, a state-controlled news agency.

Russia revoked its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 2023 but said it would mirror U.S. moves on testing — the U.S signed but never ratified the CTBT. Belousov's remarks come after President Donald Trump said on Oct. 30 that he had instructed the Defense Department to resume testing nuclear weapons for the first time since 1992.

Trump’s move to resume tests came after Russia announced on Oct. 26 that it had tested its newly developed nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed Burevestnik cruise missile. Trump said the announcement was “not appropriate,” urging Putin to seek an end to the war in Ukraine instead of “testing missiles.”

He also noted that Moscow is aware the U.S. has a nuclear submarine deployed “right off their shore.”

At the Nov. 5 meeting, Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov said that the Kremlin had not received any official explanation for Trump's comments and that Russia was not yet prepared to conduct any tests immediately.

"The American side may continue to evade official explanations, but this changes nothing, because if we do not take appropriate measures now, then 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," he said.

Belousov, however, said Russia was prepared to quickly "begin preparations" at its testing site in Novaya Zemlya, a remote archipelago in northern Russia which was extensively used for nuclear testing during the Cold War.

"The readiness of the forces and assets at the Central Test Site on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago allows for this to be carried out within a short timeframe," he said.

In June, satellite images revealed that Russia had recently expanded the site by adding several new buildings, reinforcing its potential role as a future test site.