Strategic bureaucratese. Vladimir Putin requests “coordinated proposals on the possible start of work to prepare for nuclear weapons testing”

During the public part of a meeting of Russia’s Security Council on November 5, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov proposed that Russia begin preparing a test at its Arctic proving ground on Novaya Zemlya. The suggestion, he said, was a necessary response to recent comments from Donald Trump, who announced that the United States was preparing to resume nuclear testing.

“Actions unequivocally indicate that Washington is actively building up its strategic offensive weapons,” Belousov told Putin and the room of ministers. “The White House has consistently withdrawn from long-standing arms-control treaties,” he said, citing the ABM Treaty, the INF Treaty and the Treaty on Open Skies.

Belousov went on to list the development of the new Sentinel missile, a Columbia-class submarine, the B-21 bomber and a nuclear-armed cruise missile, before turning to the “Golden Dome” programme, “intended for missile interception and pre-launch strikes against Russian and Chinese missiles,” and the new Dark Eagle hypersonic system. He also referred to “exercises of [American] strategic offensive forces,” noting that the most recent, Global Thunder 2025, held in October, included “rehearsed pre-emptive nuclear strikes on Russian territory.”

“We must keep our nuclear potential ready to inflict unacceptable damage on an adversary under any conditions and circumstances, and act adequately in response to Washington’s steps in the interests of guaranteed provision of our country’s security,” he stressed. “I consider it appropriate to begin preparations for full-scale nuclear tests immediately.”

General Valery Gerasimov, head of the general staff, went further: “The American side may continue to avoid giving official explanations, but that changes nothing, because if we do not take appropriate measures now, we will lose time and the ability to respond promptly to U.S. actions.”

Director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov, took a more cautious tone, asking Putin for more time to prepare a response: “The situation at hand is tough. And I agree that we must treat it very seriously, but there are too many open questions that need to be resolved before making a decision”.

Putin, finalizing the public part of the meeting, took his signature caution-threatening approach, neither approving nor rejecting the idea outright. Instead, he ordered the ministries and security services to determine precisely what Donald Trump had in mind when speaking of nuclear tests, and to submit “coordinated proposals on the possible start of work to prepare for nuclear weapons testing.”

Faridaily notes Russia has not conducted a nuclear test since 1990. However, in 2023 Moscow withdrew its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), citing the United States’ failure to ratify the pact.

The discussion comes amid mounting nuclear signalling from both sides. On October 30, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that the United States “has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country” and “because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately.”

A day before the Security Council meeting, Putin held a ceremony honouring the scientists behind Russia’s Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile and the Poseidon nuclear-capable underwater drone, both systems designed to bypass Western missile defences.