Kremlin Offers to Discuss Trump’s Claim That Russia Violated Nuclear Treaty

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov offered to address claims made by US President Donald Trump that Russia is violating the terms of an international treaty banning nuclear weapons testing on Tuesday, as per AFP.

On Nov. 2, Trump said that the US would resume nuclear weapons testing for the first time since the 1990s on the grounds that Russia and China are conducting nuclear tests in secret. The US president did not offer evidence to corroborate this claim, which Moscow and Beijing both deny.

“We are ready to discuss the suspicions raised by our American colleagues regarding the possibility that we might be secretly doing something deep underground,” Lavrov told Russian state media on Tuesday, according to AFP.

In the wake of Trump’s comments, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his government to prepare for the possible resumption of nuclear testing in case the US moves to do so.

As per Russian state media TASS, Lavrov said that Russia had reached out to the White House “immediately” upon learning of Trump’s comments.

“We are waiting for clarification,” he said, claiming that Russia will only resume nuclear testing if the US or another signatory violates the terms of international treaties which prohibit nuclear testing, such as the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT).

The LTBT, which bans nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere, outer space, and underwater, remains in force. The 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which prohibits all nuclear test explosions anywhere in the world, was never ratified – but the US and Russia have both broadly adhered to its principles since the early nineties.

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Former President Poroshenko on Ceasefire, 2014 Lessons, Trump, and UN

In a wide-ranging discussion at the Black Sea Security Forum 2026, former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko reflected on Ukraine’s transformation since 2014, arguing that the country has broken decisively with its Soviet past, built Europe’s strongest army, and must pursue EU and NATO membership as the foundation of its long-term security.

Last month, however, Kyiv claimed that Russia had fired the Novator 9M729 missile – a ground-based, intermediate-range, nuclear-capable cruise missile – at Ukraine 23 times since late August. If true, this may represent a violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, another of the international laws which governs the testing and use of nuclear weapons.