Kremlin: Burevestnik Test Was Non-Nuclear
20251030
US President Donald Trump has claimed that other countries are conducting nuclear weapon tests, but if he was referring to Russia's Burevestnik missile, such claims are incorrect, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"President Trump, in his statement, mentioned that other countries are supposedly conducting nuclear weapons tests... If, in some way, this refers to the Burevestnik [missile] test, it is in no way a nuclear test," Peskov told reporters.
"You probably noticed that [Russia President Vladimir Putin] spoke about Burevestnik on Sunday, and yesterday he referred to [the Poseidon missile] trial that happened two days earlier," Peskov said.
On Wednesday, Putin visited the Mandryka Central Military Clinical Hospital in Moscow, where he met with servicemen undergoing treatment.
Peskov added that Moscow hopes information about the Burevestnik and Poseidon tests was conveyed accurately to Trump, stressing that these launches cannot in any way be regarded as nuclear tests.
"The US is a sovereign country; it has the right to make sovereign decisions," Peskov went on to tell reporters.
He reminded that Russia continues to observe the existing moratorium on nuclear weapons testing.
"There is indeed a current moratorium," Peskov said, responding to Trump's remarks about a possible resumption of US nuclear tests.
However, Peskov cited Putin's words that Russia would act in line with circumstances if any country abandons the moratorium.
"I would like to recall President Putin's statement, which he has reiterated many times: if anyone moves away from the moratorium, Russia will respond according to the situation," he said.
The Kremlin spokesman further noted that there are no detailed expert-level negotiations on nuclear disarmament between Russia and the United States at present, though the issue has been brought up repeatedly.
"As for detailed expert talks on nuclear disarmament between Russia and the US — no, they are not taking place yet. The topic, however, has been mentioned on several occasions," Peskov told reporters.
He described nuclear disarmament as "a very complex issue," adding that "talks on this matter are always lengthy by nature."
The Kremlin does not believe a new round of the arms race between Russia and the United States has begun, Peskov said, responding to Trump's earlier directive to immediately start nuclear weapons testing. Trump had also noted that the United States possesses nuclear test sites and that further details would be announced later.
"No, we don't see it that way," Peskov commented when asked whether Trump's remarks could be seen as a new stage in the arms race.
He also underlined that the issue of nuclear testing and the fate of the New START treaty are "different matters."
The Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space, and Under Water was signed in Moscow on August 5, 1963, by the USSR, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
© Sputnik
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