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Russia may resume nuclear testing

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, MARCH 24. Russia may resume nuclear weapons tests if the United States continues to upgrade its nuclear arsenal, a senior Russian legislator said.

``A resumption of nuclear testing at Russia's Novaya Zemlya test range is quite possible if the U. S. pushes ahead with its nuclear weapons programme,'' Andrei Kokoshin, leading member of a pro-Government faction in the State Duma, the Lower House of the Russian Parliament, said on Sunday citing reports that the U. S. was putting its Nevada nuclear test range in operational shape.

He said Russia should also concentrate on developing precision weapons. Russia conducted its last nuclear test in October 1990, and in contrast to the U. S., ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 2000. However, the treaty is yet to come into force as not all nuclear and threshold nations have joined it. The U. S. Congress has refused to ratify the CTBT and officials in the George Bush Administration suggested the U.S. may abandon a nine-year voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing.

Russian media cited documents from the U. S. Energy Department which call for shortening from years to months the lead time it would take to resume nuclear testing and for building small deep-penetration nuclear arms to be used against "rogue states.'' Mr. Kokoshin, a former Deputy Defence Minister and head of the National Security Council, is a recognised authority on Russia's defence strategy.

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