VIENNA (AP) — Following U.S. President Donald Trump's proposal earlier this year to resume nuclear testing, a U.S. government official backed the position at a global nuclear arms control meeting and pointed to nuclear provocations by Russia, China and North Korea.
US Chargé d'Affaires in Vienna Howard Solomon made previously unpublished comments obtained by The Associated Press at a Nov. 10 meeting of the Preparatory Commission for the Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization.
“As President Trump has indicated, the United States will begin testing on a par with other nuclear weapons states. This process will begin immediately and will continue in full compliance with our commitment to transparency and national security,” Solomon said.
Solomon explained further, noting: “For anyone questioning this decision, context is important. Since 2019, including in this forum, the United States has expressed concerns that Russia and China are not adhering to a moratorium on zero-yield nuclear testing,” he said, adding that concerns “remain valid.”
Solomon's comment referred to so-called supercritical nuclear test explosions, prohibited by the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, known as the CTBT, where fissile material is compressed to set off a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction that causes an explosion.
Explosive tests release a certain amount of energy, called nuclear power, which determines the destructive power of the weapon. The treaty prohibits all nuclear explosions, even very low yields, under a zero yield standard.
“Our concerns about Russia and China complement the activities of North Korea, which has conducted six nuclear explosion tests this century,” Solomon said.
The Global Monitoring Network, created by the treaty in 1996 to record nuclear tests around the world, has detected all six of North Korea's nuclear tests this century. These were tests with higher yields.
However, the monitoring network is unable to detect very low-yield supercritical nuclear tests conducted underground in metal chambers, experts say.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Solomon was referring to low-yield supercritical nuclear testing.
US says Russia and China are conducting tests
China and Russia, which have signed but not ratified the treaty, say they maintain a moratorium on nuclear testing.
But since 2019, the US State Department has publicly expressed concern that China and Russia are not adhering to a moratorium on zero-yield testing. Annual reports to the US Congress on compliance with arms control agreements mention possible actions at the Lop Nur nuclear test site in northwestern China's Xinjiang region and at Russia's Novaya Zemlya test site, a remote Arctic archipelago.
In a “60 Minutes” interview that aired Nov. 2 on CBS News, Trump said, “Russia tests and China tests, but they don't talk about it. You know, we're an open society. We're different. We talk about it.”
“They don’t go and tell you about it,” Trump continued. “You know, as powerful as they are, it's a big world out there. You don't necessarily know where they're doing the testing. They… they're doing the testing deep underground where people don't know exactly what's going on with the test.”
A White House official, asked to comment on whether Trump was referring to low-yield supercritical nuclear tests conducted underground, said the president had directed the tests to be conducted “on an equal basis” with other countries. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak officially about testing plans.
Other countries have accelerated their testing programs and Trump wants to act accordingly, the official said, without elaborating.
Russia denies tests
Solomon's comments in Vienna came in response to a statement by Russia's permanent representative to international organizations, Mikhail Ulyanov, at a closed meeting of the Preparatory Commission for the CTBTO, the international body based in Vienna that monitors compliance with the nuclear test ban.
“The resumption of nuclear testing could cause significant damage to the nuclear non-proliferation regime and international security,” Ulyanov said.
“We believe it is fundamentally important that the American side provide a clear and detailed explanation of its position on resuming nuclear testing,” he added. “We expect the US to respond accordingly and without further delay.”
Ulyanov also rejected “completely unacceptable and unfounded accusations” that Russia is conducting nuclear tests.
“These are false accusations. We find such escalatory rhetoric unacceptable,” he said.
Limited use of nuclear weapons remains a risk
Solomon denied Ulyanov's comments, saying it was “surprising to hear such statements from a state that has not joined the moratorium on zero-yield nuclear testing.”
Solomon then cited additional US concerns, including Russia's “continuing violations” of the New START treaty, the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between Moscow and Washington, Russia's “disproportionately large” stockpile of non-strategic nuclear weapons and Russian nuclear doctrine.
The weapons Solomon is talking about typically have less explosive power than strategic nuclear weapons and are intended for use on the battlefield. They can still cause enormous destruction.
Even though non-strategic nuclear weapons are physically smaller, experts consider them dangerous because the threshold for their use is considered lower. The weapons are not subject to arms control treaties, making it easier for Russia and other states to develop them without oversight or restrictions.
The Nuclear Notebook, a renowned annual report published by the Federation of American Scientists in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, emphasized this point in this year's edition.
“The role played by non-strategic nuclear weapons is of particular concern, as this category of nuclear weapons could be used first in a potential military escalation with NATO,” the report says.
According to the US State Department, Russia has between 1,000 and 2,000 non-strategic nuclear warheads, according to its latest unclassified estimate in 2023, far more than the roughly 200 such warheads the US has.
Nuclear weapons control is under threat
In contrast, strategic nuclear weapons are even more powerful and are designed to be used deep inside enemy territory, far from the actual battlefield where friendly forces may be present and at risk of destruction.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the United States and Russia have comparable total numbers of deployed strategic nuclear weapons: 1,718 for Moscow and 1,770 for Washington.
These weapons are limited by the New START treaty, officially known as the Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. It was signed by the Obama administration in 2010 and went into effect in February 2011 as a 10-year agreement.
Russia suspended its participation in the New START treaty in 2023, but did not withdraw from the treaty. Russian President Vladimir Putin in September announced Moscow's readiness to comply with the treaty's restrictions for another year.
In October, Trump said it sounded “like a good idea.”
Without the treaty, which expires on February 5, the strategic nuclear arsenals of the United States and Russia will be unconstrained for the first time in decades.
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