MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/. The Russian test site on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago is being kept ready for the potential resumption of nuclear testing, should the country's leadership decide to do so, former head of Russian Foreign Ministry’s 12th Main Directorate, Colonel General Vladimir Verkhovtsev, told TASS.

"The test site on Novaya Zemlya has been fully prepared for the resumption of nuclear testing for several years. If officials decide to resume testing, we are ready to do so as soon as possible, although it will take more than a week," he said. "If necessary from a political point of view, the test site on Novaya Zemlya is ready to resume nuclear testing. All that is needed is a decision by the country's leadership," Verkhovtsev pointed out.

According to the general, if the US begins preparations for nuclear tests at the Nevada test site, Russia will know about it in advance, since "it is impossible to hide the transfer of various equipment there." According to his assessment, US President Donald Trump's words about US nuclear superiority over Russia "do not correspond to reality." "Russia was the first in this field and remains the first," Verkhovtsev emphasized. When asked about the effectiveness and reliability of US and Russian nuclear weapons, he replied that Russia "is at least on par with them in everything, and in some ways even surpasses them."

At a meeting with the Russian Security Council on November 5, President Vladimir Putin instructed the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry, the special services, and civil agencies to gather and analyze additional information and "submit coordinated proposals on the possible start of preparations for nuclear weapons testing." Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a TASS correspondent that the president did not instruct them to begin preparations for tests; rather, he "instructed them to study the advisability of beginning preparations for such tests."

Earlier, US President Donald Trump said he had instructed the Pentagon to resume nuclear weapons testing immediately, citing the fact that other countries were already doing so. Trump did not specify what kind of tests he was referring to or whether this included the detonation of nuclear warheads.

The USSR conducted 715 nuclear tests, forming one of the foundations for the creation of the country's nuclear shield. The last nuclear explosion at the Semipalatinsk test site took place on October 19, 1989, and at the Novaya Zemlya test site on October 24, 1990.