MOSCOW, November 11. /TASS/. Moscow is still examining the situation, analyzing whether it is practical to begin preparing for nuclear testing, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
Replying to a question as to whether Russian President Vladimir Putin received any proposals on this matter after giving instructions last week, Peskov said: "So far, work in this area in accordance with the directions by the Russian president is underway. No news here so far. It is clear that this work will take some time."
Earlier, US President Donald Trump said that he had instructed the Pentagon to immediately resume nuclear weapons testing, as some other countries are already engaged in it. He did not clarify which trials precisely he had in mind and whether they include imploding nuclear charges.
On November 5, at Putin’s meeting with the Security Council, Russian State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin highlighted these remarks and noted that legislators were concerned about the situation. The Russian president heard out the stances of various participants of the meeting after which he instructed the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry, special services and civilian agencies to collect and analyze additional information and "introduce coordinated proposals on the potential beginning of work on preparing nuclear arms trials." Peskov emphasized that the president did not set preparing for the tests as a goal - he "instructed to work through the issue of the practicability of beginning preparations" against the background of the US’ actions.