Kremlin Walks Back ‘Nuclear Test’ Claims As Trump Orders US Atomic Weapons Testing

Earlier we reported that the United States will begin conducting nuclear weapons testing again after decades of rejecting the practice, according to a fresh announcement by President Donald Trump Wednesday as he was on the tail end of his Asia tour. He seemed to be referencing Russia when he wrote on Truth Social, “Because of other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis,” the president stated. “That process will begin immediately.”

Another adversary of note who has done high-profile nuclear tests in the modern era is North Korea. But clearly, Trump ordered the restart of nuclear weapons trials in response to Russia’s recent tests of a nuclear cruise missile as well as nuclear-powered underwater drones.

It was on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin touted a successful test of his military’s new “invincible” nuclear-capable cruise missile, the Burevestnik. Trump quickly called it “not appropriate” and reminded Moscow that a US nuclear submarine is “right off their shores.”

The new Russian missile completed a multi-hour flight that covered 14,000km, and is touted as able to evade any modern anti-air defense system. While Russia first disclosed the test on Sunday, it actually took place on October 21 according to the Kremlin announcement.

But Trump’s warnings didn’t deter the Kremlin, as it was only on Tuesday that Russia’s military conducted yet a second nuclear-related test, this time of a long in development nuclear-capable state-of-the-art underwater drone named the ‘Poseidon’. 

“For the first time, we succeeded not only in launching it from a submarine using its booster engine, but also in starting its nuclear power unit, which provided energy to the vehicle for a certain period of time. This is a tremendous success,” Putin described Wednesday of that test. Western media sources even noted the weapon could potentially unleash radioactive tidal waves against coastal targets.

All of this meant that Russia conducted two significant ‘nuclear weapons tests’ in under a week; however, nowhere in Russian statements was it suggested there was a detonation of atomic warheads. But Trump’s order to his Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth to start resume nuclear [explosives?] tests could mark a first since 1992 (that last test was an underground detonation) and the end of the Cold War – and has clearly alarmed and rattled the Kremlin.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov is apparently seeking to de-escalate, by walking back the nuclear aspect to the recent Russian tests, describing that given these newly tested weapons only feature nuclear-propulsion systems – and that there was no warhead test.

“If [Trump] in some way refers to the Burevestnik tests as a nuclear test carried out by another country, that is in no way accurate. All nations continue to advance the development of their defense systems, but this does not constitute a nuclear test,” the Putin spokesman emphasized.

According to more of the official Russian explanation: 

Russia’s tests of the Burevestnik missile, which features a nuclear-powered propulsion system, do not fall under the category of nuclear weapons tests restricted by international treaties, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov clarified during a briefing, commenting on US President Donald Trump’s recent statements and his directive to the Pentagon to carry out American nuclear weapons tests.

Previously, US President Donald Trump announced that he had instructed the Pentagon to immediately resume nuclear weapons testing. However, he did not specify the nature of the tests or whether they would involve detonating nuclear warheads.

Russian state media has been busy trying to clarify as well…

🚨🇷🇺Kremlin comments on Trump’s remarks: Burevestnik tests are not nuclear

Trump’s claim about “other countries” testing nukes is inaccurate if it refers to Burevestnik, Kremlin Spox Dmitry Peskov says.

Russia reaffirmed that its moratorium on nuclear testing remains in force… pic.twitter.com/IadrzH4ShP

— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) October 30, 2025

Needless to say, if each side began detonating nuclear warheads it would be a highly escalatory and dangerous step not seen since the height of the Cold War. Already plenty of nuclear rhetoric has accompanied the proxy war in Ukraine, but so far this has just been confined to words and occasional Telegram and Truth Social ‘threats’.

But it is also true that Trump’s wording in the fresh statement left things somewhat ambiguous, with the words “start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis…”. The wording doesn’t itself necessitate explosive testing.

Trump’s Truth Social statement claimed the US has a larger nuclear stockpile than Russia…

Nothing in here is correct. Russia’s stockpile is larger than ours, by a small margin. Trump did not create a larger stockpile by “updating” in his first term. No nation except North Korea has tested nuclear weapons since the 1990s. pic.twitter.com/siLp8ihXCY

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) October 30, 2025

But Trump in ordering the resumption of nuclear testing just upped the ante – and hopefully the two sides can find agreement to avoid taking this immense step of actually testing warheads and atomic explosions. This would be bad for all of humanity.