MOSCOW, November 28. /TASS/. Moscow is closely monitoring developments regarding a potential US nuclear weapons test at proving grounds in Nevada and will respond in a reciprocal manner if such tests are confirmed, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an interview with Russia Today on Tuesday.

"We will certainly be monitoring how this situation develops," she said. "I would like to reiterate our principled position on nuclear weapons and their use, which has been repeatedly stated by the President of Russia [Vladimir Putin] and is enshrined and documented in our relevant doctrines."

"I will cite the president’s address to the [Russian] Federal Assembly on February 21, 2023, when he said the following: 'Naturally, we will not be the first to do so, but if the United States conducts a nuclear test, we will also carry one out,'" Zakharova added.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier that Moscow is continuing to verify the facts regarding a potential nuclear test at the US testing grounds in Nevada and that, thus far, no violations of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) have been reported.

On October 18, the US Energy Department reported that the United States had "conducted a subsurface chemical explosion at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) to improve the United States’ ability to detect low-yield nuclear explosions around the world."

Earlier, Vladimir Yermakov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control, said that Washington consistently maintains its proving grounds in Nevada in a state of high readiness and, therefore, Moscow believed that the Americans had not abandoned the idea of conducting a full-fledged nuclear test as part of efforts to modernize the US nuclear arsenal.