Fri Dec 27 08:13:10 UTC 2024: ## Russia Warns Trump Over Potential Nuclear Testing
**Moscow, December 27, 2024** – Russia issued a stark warning to Donald Trump’s incoming administration on Friday, expressing concern over his stance on nuclear weapons and hinting at potential retaliatory nuclear testing. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who oversees arms control, cited Trump’s perceived radical position on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) during his previous presidency as a cause for alarm.
Ryabkov stated that the current international climate, marked by what he described as hostile US policies, necessitates a range of potential responses from Russia, including nuclear testing. This comes after reports that Trump’s previous administration considered conducting a US nuclear test for the first time since 1992.
While post-Soviet Russia has not conducted nuclear testing, and the Soviet Union’s last test was in 1990, President Vladimir Putin has previously stated that Russia would respond to US nuclear testing in kind. The few countries to have tested nuclear weapons since the collapse of the Soviet Union are the United States (1992), China and France (1996), India and Pakistan (1998), and North Korea (2017). Ryabkov’s comments highlight escalating tensions and underscore the precariousness of the current international geopolitical landscape.
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