Moscow comments on explosion at nuclear test site in Nevada, USA

Russia follows the situation with the explosion at the nuclear test site in Nevada, USA, Kremlin's official spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, RIA Novosti reports.

The comment from the Kremlin came in response to reports about the underground explosion in Nevada that was conducted a few hours after the Russian Parliament approved the draft law to revoke Russia's ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

"We are watching very carefully,” Peskov said.

Earlier, Dmitry Stefanovich, a researcher at the Centre for International Security at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that the passing of the draft law and the underground explosion in Nevada was most likely a coincidences because such tests are usually conducted in advance.

Nevada explosion may not violate CTBT

If the stated purpose of the experiment in Nevada is confirmed, then the US actions do not contradict either the moratorium on nuclear tests or the provisions of the CTBT, which has not entered into force, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said. 

According to the United States, the purpose of the explosion was to increase the ability to detect low-yield nuclear tests. 

"If this information is confirmed, then we are not talking about nuclear arms tests, and this explosion does not contradict either the US moratorium on nuclear tests or the provisions of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which has not entered into force," Ryabkov said. 

It is worthy of note that President Vladimir Putin said in his February address to the Federal Assembly: “We, of course, will not be the first to do this, but if the United States conducts a test, then we will conduct it too.”