Kathrine Frich
With the New START treaty now expired, the global nuclear order is entering uncertain territory.
The agreement, long seen as the last major pillar limiting US and Russian strategic arsenals, had symbolized a fragile balance between the world’s two largest nuclear powers.
Its lapse has shifted the international security landscape, raising fears that decades-old restraints could unravel and usher in a new era of competition.
Moscow issues warning
Against that backdrop, Russia on Tuesday warned that a US decision to resume nuclear testing would carry serious consequences.
Speaking at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Russian Ambassador Gennady Gatilov said, according to Agerpres,
“We warn that the withdrawal of the United States from its national moratorium would lead to a domino effect,” adding that “responsibility for the consequences would fall entirely on Washington.”
His remarks followed signals from Washington that President Donald Trump intends to restart nuclear testing, which the United States has not conducted since 1992.
US signals readiness
Christopher Yeaw, the US assistant secretary of state for arms control and nonproliferation, said last week that Trump was serious about the move.
“As the president has said, the United States will resume testing, quote, ‘on an equal footing,’” Yeaw told the Hudson Institute.
He stressed that this would not mean a return to massive atmospheric detonations such as the 1952 “Ivy Mike” test.
However, he argued that parity required a response to what Washington sees as actions by Beijing and Moscow.
“And it is enough to look at China or Russia to establish this criterion,” Yeaw said.
Accusations of secret tests
Ahead of the Geneva meeting, Yeaw repeated US allegations that China conducted a low-yield underground nuclear test in 2020 and was preparing additional, higher-yield experiments.
A senior US State Department official in Geneva, speaking on condition of anonymity, cited data from Kazakhstan that allegedly showed China carried out a “ten-ton” underground test on June 22, 2020.
The official also claimed Beijing had planned tests with yields of several hundred tons.
Washington has also accused Russia of secretly conducting low-power nuclear tests.
“If the world is worried about the kind of tests the United States is going to conduct, they should be even more worried about the groundwork that Russia and China have already laid,” the US official said.
Gatilov warned that renewed US testing would further undermine the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which aims to ban all nuclear explosions but has not entered into force. Among nuclear-armed states, only France and the United Kingdom have ratified it.
Sources: Agerpres, Digi24.
