Western press: “Whatever the truth, a return to US warhead testing would be a highly retrograde step”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has given state awards to the developers of the Burevestnik cruise missile and the Poseidon underwater torpedo, the latest signal in what analysts have cast as efforts by the Kremlin to discourage the West from supporting Ukraine, CNN notes.

Analysts say Russia is using previously announced missile technology to send new nuclear threats to the West, and the US in particular.

“The repeated emphasis on the long range of the weapon and ability to overcome any missile defense system also indicates that the intended target would be the United States, not a regional adversary that Russia could strike with much cheaper shorter-range systems,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in a report published Tuesday.

The report noted the Trump administration’s plan to build a “Golden Dome” missile defense system to shield the US from foreign attacks. Although Putin did not explicitly reference the Golden Dome in his October 26 announcement of the Burevestnik test, he has repeatedly stressed the missile’s ability to evade missile defenses.

“Putin is using this test to create fear in the United States to discourage US decisionmakers from pursuing policies that threaten Russian interests,” the CSIS report said.

Touting new weapons tests, Moscow signals to Washington that it must contend with the Kremlin’s power and negotiate, ‘The New York Times’ stresses.

First came President Trump’s scrapping of a proposed summit in Budapest on the war in Ukraine and his imposition of sanctions on Russia.

Then came the announcements by President Vladimir V. Putin that Russia had successfully tested two menacing nuclear-capable weapons designed for possible doomsday combat against the United States.

The timing may not have been coincidental, analysts say, and Mr. Putin’s point was clear: Given the serious threat of Russia’s nuclear arsenal, the United States will ultimately need to respect Moscow’s power and negotiate — like it or not.

It’s a message the Kremlin has relied on in its brinkmanship with the United States dating back to the days of the Cold War, when the Soviet Union regularly emphasized that for the world’s two biggest nuclear powers, negotiation was a necessity, not an option. More recently, Moscow has underscored that attempts to isolate Russia, including with the recent U.S. sanctions on Russian oil producers, were doomed to fail.

“What they are trying to say is you cannot just sanction us in any way you please, we are a major nuclear power and you need to engage in talks,” said András Rácz, a senior fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations.

It’s unclear whether Washington got that message. After Mr. Putin’s announcements, Mr. Trump wrote on social media that the United States would restart nuclear weapons testing “on an equal basis.” The comment started a round of speculation about whether Washington would test its first nuclear warhead explosion since 1992.

Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his top officials on Wednesday to draft proposals for a possible test of nuclear weapons, something Moscow has not done since the 1991.

The order – responding to President Donald Trump's announcement last week that the U.S. would resume testing – was a further signal that the two countries with the world's largest nuclear arsenals are rapidly nearing a step that could sharply escalate geopolitical tensions.

"I am instructing the Foreign Ministry, the Defence Ministry... the special services and relevant civilian agencies to do everything possible to collect additional information on the issue, analyse it at the Security Council and make agreed proposals on the possible start of work on the preparation of nuclear weapons tests," Putin said in televised remarks.

Defence Minister Andrei Belousov told Putin that recent U.S. remarks and actions meant it was "advisable to prepare for full-scale nuclear tests" immediately.

Russia's Arctic testing site at Novaya Zemlya could host such tests at short notice, Belousov added.

General Valery Gerasimov, head of the General Staff, told Putin: "If we do not take appropriate measures now, time and opportunities for a timely response to the actions of the United States will be lost, since the time required to prepare for nuclear tests, depending on their type, ranges from several months to several years."

No country apart from North Korea – most recently in 2017 – has carried out explosive tests of nuclear weapons in the 21st century. Security analysts say a resumption of testing by any of the world's nuclear powers would be destabilising, as it would likely trigger a similar response by the others.

Russia and the U.S. are by far the biggest nuclear powers by numbers of warheads, followed by China, France, Britain, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea, according to the Federation of American Scientists.

‘Financial Times’

Donald Trump’s statement last week that the US would resume testing nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with Russia and China wrongfooted his own officials as much as it did Beijing and Moscow. Restarting warhead tests would break a three-decade moratorium by the major nuclear powers.

Trump’s comments appeared primarily a response to Putin’s claims to have tested two nuclear-powered delivery platforms: Burevestnik, a long-range cruise missile, and Poseidon, a torpedo said to be able to devastate coastal regions with a radioactive tidal wave. Russia’s president said both could evade existing defences, in a swipe at Trump’s plan to expand today’s US missile defence system into an elaborate “Golden Dome”.

Trump may have intended to signal the US would step up testing of delivery systems, not warheads. In a weekend TV interview, though, he appeared to confirm that he meant explosive nuclear testing. His energy secretary said the US would simply continue systems tests involving “non-nuclear explosions”.

Whatever the truth, a return to US warhead testing would be a highly retrograde step. It would provide cover to do likewise not just for Russia and China but other nuclear states keen to upgrade their weapons. That could encourage non-nuclear states to pursue their own.

It would also demolish one of the few remaining pillars of US-Russian arms control. Agreements limiting missile defence systems (intended to buttress mutual deterrence) and intermediate-range missiles are no longer in force. The New Start treaty, limiting deployed strategic warheads to 1,550 on each side, is due to expire next February. Putin has offered a conditional one-year extension; Washington has made positive noises but not formally responded.

The erosion of arms control, rush for new systems and loose talk on testing are all the more unsettling since Russia’s war on Ukraine has marked the return of nuclear blackmail. Putin has used it from the outset to deter Nato countries from intervening and supplying the most lethal weapons to Kyiv.

Whatever Trump’s justifiable frustrations with Putin in his efforts to end the Ukraine war and regardless of China’s position today, the US president ought to engage with Moscow on extending New Start as a step towards rebuilding arms control. He has previously called that a priority. Making decisive progress towards it would be a far better way of earning the Nobel Peace Prize he craves than ending the long taboo on weapons testing.

read more in our Telegram-channel https://t.me/The_International_Affairs