Speaking on RT television channel, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov stated that if the US begins taking measures to continue nuclear testing, Russia will immediately respond with similar actions.
"If the processes start, which means that the United States is moving towards resuming nuclear tests, we will act. Russia will immediately respond with similar actions," Mr Ryabkov said, recalling that Russia had withdrawn its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty in November 2023 because it had "run out of patience".
"We have waited 23 years. That is the end of the story. What will happen next is an unanswered question. The answer depends entirely on the policy that the United States and its allies will pursue," the Russian official noted.
The United States stopped nuclear testing in 1992. The decision was made under the administration of President George Walker Bush.
In 1996, 187 countries signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), however, the treaty never entered into force because it was not ratified by eight of the 44 states that have nuclear weapons or the means to produce them, including the United States.
Last November, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law that would cancel Moscow's ratification of the CTBT. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed at the time that this did not mean that Russia was planning to conduct nuclear tests.