Rare footage has emerged showing Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing accompanied by officers reportedly carrying the “nuclear briefcase,” which can be used to order a nuclear strike. This comes just hours after Russia revoked a ban on atomic weapons testing, a move that Moscow claims will put it on par with the United States. The U.S. responded by conducting a high-explosive experiment at a nuclear test site in Nevada. The experiment utilized chemicals and radioisotopes to validate new predictive explosion models, aimed at detecting atomic blasts in other countries.
The Department of Energy stated that these experiments are part of the United States’ efforts to develop new technology in support of its nuclear nonproliferation goals. Corey Hinderstein, Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation at the National Nuclear Security Administration, emphasized that the experiments will help reduce global nuclear threats by improving the detection of underground nuclear explosive tests.
Notably, the timing of the U.S. test coincides with Russian lawmakers’ announcement of their intention to revoke the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The treaty, adopted in 1996, prohibits all nuclear explosions worldwide, but has not been fully ratified by several countries including the U.S., China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Israel, Iran, and Egypt.
American officials have expressed the need for more transparency, highlighting that while the U.S. and Russia do not test warheads, they conduct sub-critical experiments to verify weapon designs without the necessary amount of atomic material for a sustained chain reaction. This report underscores concerns that Russia may resume nuclear tests to deter Western support for Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has mentioned the possibility of conducting nuclear tests, but has not yet formed a definitive opinion on the matter. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov affirmed that Moscow will continue to respect the ban and will only resume nuclear tests if the U.S. does so first.
The article concludes by mentioning that the Associated Press contributed to the report.
