Russia is likely conducting explosive nuclear tests in violation of an international arms treaty, the chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency warned Wednesday.
Army Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley said Russia appears to be ignoring its commitments under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. Russia’s testing structure, he said, allows the country to operate beyond the treaty’s limitations.
“The United States believes that Russia is probably not adhering to the nuclear testing moratorium in a manner consistent with the zero-yield standard,” Ashley said at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C.
The zero-yield standard prohibits all nuclear explosions “that produce a self-sustaining, supercritical chain reaction,” according to the Arms Control Association. In effect, the treaty bans signatories from conducting any explosive nuclear weapon test.
The United States in 1996 became the first of 184 signatories to the treaty, widely considered a key turning point in nuclear security. Nuclear powers regularly engaged in weapons tests before it was signed. Only North Korea has engaged in such tests since 1998, when India and Pakistan ended their testing. The treaty has never gone into effect, as not enough countries have ratified it, but signatories have vowed to stick to its terms.
This is the first time the United States has accused Russia of violating the pact.
Ashley said he suspected Russia is doing so to test its new weapon designs, saying that as “you go through the process of upgrading the warheads that you have, if you go beyond a zero yield, that gives you more a sense that your designs are viable.”
Russia has been engaged in a major overhaul of its nuclear and missile arsenals for years, according to Ashley, and its capacity is likely to grow significantly over the next decade. Ashley pointed to Russia’s Novator 9M729 cruise missile, a new model suspected of violating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, as an example of the threat posed by Russia’s growing capacity. Some analysts believe the existence of the Novator led President Donald Trump to announce in February he was withdrawing the United States from the treaty due to Russian cheating.
