Terrified Kremlin stresses recent weapon tests were ‘NOT nuclear’ after Trump announces US will begin testing its nukes

Moscow emphasized that the latest weapons tests were ‘non-nuclear’ after Donald Trump announced that the USA would start testing its own nuclear weapons.

The Kremlin has said its tests of nuclear-powered nuclear-capable weapons (the Burevestnik cruise missile and the Poseidon underwater drone) do not constitute a direct atomic weapons test.

Both countries maintain a de facto moratorium on testing nuclear warheads; However, Russia regularly conducts military exercises involving systems capable of carrying such weapons.

“We hope that the information regarding the Poseidon and Burevestnik tests was conveyed correctly to President Trump,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at the daily briefing.

‘This cannot in any way be interpreted as a nuclear test,’ he added.

Trump said Thursday that he ordered the U.S. tests in response to actions by other states.

“Due to other countries’ testing programs, I have directed the War Department to begin testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis,” he said in a social media post on Thursday.

But it was not immediately clear whether Trump was talking about testing nuclear warheads, something the United States last did in 1992, or whether he was talking about testing weapons systems capable of delivering atomic warheads.

In 2023, strategic experts warned that a Poseidon torpedo would have the potential to destroy a coastal city, cause radioactive floods and result in millions of deaths.

The Kremlin has said its tests of nuclear-powered nuclear-capable weapons (the Burevestnik cruise missile and the Poseidon underwater drone) do not constitute a direct atomic weapons test.

The Kremlin hinted Thursday that it would also test nuclear warheads if Trump wanted a live test of an atomic weapon.

“If someone leaves the moratorium, Russia will act accordingly,” Peskov said.

Putin boasted yesterday that Russia had successfully tested the nuclear-capable underwater ‘Poseidon’ drone, which he had previously claimed could cause mass destruction in the West by triggering ‘radioactive tsunamis’.

In a televised speech today during his visit to a military hospital where Russian soldiers are staying, Putin said: ‘Yesterday, another test was carried out for another possible system; ‘Poseidon’, an unmanned underwater device also equipped with a nuclear power unit.’

The Russian leader said there was ‘no way to prevent’ the drone torpedo, which according to Putin can move at a higher speed than conventional submarines and reach any continent in the world.

Putin stated that no country could reach Poseidon’s speed and diving depth, adding that ‘something similar is unlikely to occur in the near future’.

The device can operate at depths of more than a kilometer and is undetectable while moving at speeds of up to 70 knots, according to a source in the Russian military-industrial complex reported by state news agency TASS.

In 2023, strategic experts warned that a Poseidon torpedo would have the potential to destroy a coastal city, cause radioactive floods and result in millions of deaths.

The Poseidon test came after Putin oversaw the testing of another nuclear-capable cruise missile, which he said had “unlimited range”.

Trump responded by urging Putin to focus on ending the war in Ukraine.

Russia has successfully tested the ‘unstoppable’ nuclear-powered cruise missile known as the ‘Flying Chernobyl’ on an 8,700-mile test flight, Putin said on Sunday.

Moscow said the weapon could penetrate any defensive shield and had ‘unlimited range’.

Asked about the test of the missile, called SSC-X-9 Skyfall by NATO, on Air Force One, Trump said the United States does not need nuclear weapons to fly because it has a nuclear submarine off the coast of Russia.

Putin stated that no country could reach Poseidon’s speed and diving depth, adding that ‘something similar is unlikely to emerge in the near future’.

Putin revealed the ‘successful’ secret flight of the Burevestnik doomsday wing rocket, dubbed the ‘Flying Chernobyl’ with ‘unlimited range’, on October 21

“They know we have a nuclear submarine, the largest in the world, right off their coast, I mean, [our missile] He doesn’t need to go 8,000 miles,’ Trump told reporters, according to an audio file released by the White House.

‘By the way, I don’t think it’s appropriate for Putin to say: You have to end the war, the war that was supposed to last a week… is now in its fourth year, this is what you should do instead of testing missiles.’

In response to Trump on Monday, the Kremlin defiantly said Russia would be guided by its own national interests.

“Despite all our openness to dialogue with the United States, first of all Russia and the Russian President are guided by our own national interests,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

‘It was so, it is so and it will be so.’

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that if the United States starts testing nuclear weapons again, Russia will do the same.

In 1996, the two countries signed – but did not ratify – the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which banned all atomic test explosions, whether for military or civilian purposes.

Announcing the latest tests, Putin boasted that Russia’s new nuclear-powered devices could reach every continent in the world and were impervious to defences.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Russia and the United States possess 90 percent of the world’s nuclear arsenal, or about 11,000 warheads.