2 weeks Ago By Tom-gould
Moscow could resume nuclear weapons testing for the first time in more than thirty years, a senior Russian diplomat suggested on Saturday. “This is a question at hand,” deputy foreign minister Sergey Ryabkov told Russian state news agency TASS when asked about restarting nuclear tests. “I don’t want to portend anything but will simply say that the situation is quite complicated.
It is under constant review in the entirety of all its elements and in all its aspects.” The last Russian nuclear weapons test was in 1990, a year before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russian president Vladimir Putin approved changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine last week, stating that an attack with conventional weapons on Russian territory, if backed by a nuclear power, could be criteria for a response.
The changes to the nuclear doctrine followed a decision by the United States to allow Ukraine to launch long-range US missiles into Russia. Ukraine fired British long-range Storm Shadow missiles at targets in Russia for the first time last week, Reuters reported. The UK and Ukrainian governments have refused to comment.
The head of Russia’s nuclear testing site told Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta in September that nuclear tests could be resumed “at any moment.” Read Next Putin issues stark warning: Russia can now target the UK and US Ryabkov later clarified that Russia will not conduct any tests if “the United States refrains from such steps.” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky told Sky News this week that NATO membership would have to be offered to unoccupied parts of Ukraine to end the “hot phase of the war”, provided that the NATO invitation recognised Ukraine’s internationally recognised borders.
He appeared to accept that eastern parts of the country as occupied by Russia would have to fall outside the deal. Mr Zelensky had been asked to respond to reports saying that one of Trump’s plans to end the Ukraine-Russia war could require Kyiv ceding the land Moscow has taken to Russia in exchange for Ukraine joining NATO. said: “If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we need to take under the NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control.
“We need to do it fast. And then on the [occupied] territory of Ukraine, Ukraine can get them back in a diplomatic way.” When asked what he thought of Trump, Zelensky said, “We have to work with the new president” to “have the biggest supporter”.
“I want to work with him directly because there are different voices from people around him. And that’s why we need not to [allow] anybody around to destroy our communication,” he said. US President-elect Donald Trump nominated former national security adviser and retired army lieutenant general Keith Kellogg to be special envoy to Russia and Ukraine this week.
A policy document co-authored by Mr Kellogg and presented to Trump in April proposes withdrawing weapons from Ukraine if it does not agree to peace talks and providing more weapons if Russia refuses to do the same. Moscow lost a record 2,030 troops in one day in Ukraine on 28 November, according to figures published by Ukraine’s armed forces. The previous record of 1,950 was set on 12 November.
Russia’s total losses stand at 738,660. Makhachkala airport in southern Russia was temporarily closed on Saturday morning due to the “threat of drone attacks,” TASS reported. It was not clear who was behind the threat.
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