US military intelligence agency the DIA has issued a new statement directly accusing the Russian government of conducting low-yield nuclear tests in the course of developing more advanced nuclear arms.
This is the second time
the DIA has suggested Russia was conducting nuclear tests in the past
month. The statement today, as with the previous one, came with no
evidence that any such testing ever took place.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning the US
allegations as a “crude provocation,” saying that the allegations are
groundless. It is unlikely that Russia would need to carry out nuclear
tests in 2019, as generations of nuclear weapons development put them in
a position that makes them more than capable of making such arms.
As one Russian MP pointed out last time the DIA made such an accusation,
nuclear tests aren’t exactly secret. There is a huge global array of
seismic devices that would immediately detect any nuclear tests carried
out, and no such tests have been detected in Russia.
US Military Intelligence Accuses Russia of Nuclear Testing
DIA provides no evidence of accusation
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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