MOSCOW, December 15. /TASS/. Washington will receive a tit-for-tat response from Moscow in case it moves to resume nuclear weapons tests, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said.

"As far as nuclear tests are concerned, I can say that if the US resumes them, it will receive a tit-for-tat response from us. It has certainly sent signals recently that it has no plans to do that and is ready to be more transparent about its testing ground. However, even if there are no such plans today, tomorrow could be a different story," he noted in an interview with the International Affairs magazine. The Russian deputy foreign minister also stressed that Moscow should be on high alert for the possible US move to resume nuclear tests. "For instance, we remember what the Russia-NATO Founding Act says about having ‘no intention, no plan and no reason’ to deploy nuclear weapons to Central and Eastern Europe. NATO allies have shamelessly trampled on this particular obligation. The US-led Western bloc has solely aggressive and belligerent plans and intentions," the senior diplomat pointed out.

"We are judging them by deeds and not by words and we have to be on alert at all times. I would like to add that this means being on combat alert if necessary. Such an approach also goes for the possible resumption of nuclear tests," Ryabkov noted. According to him, if the Americans believe that it makes sense for them to try to test Russia in this field, too, they are mistaken. "If only they let themselves ignore sober assessments of things and take the path of further instability and tensions, they will find themselves in a completely different situation," the senior Russian diplomat concluded.