Friday, October 20, 2023

Russia is closely monitoring US nuclear test in Nevada, Putin's spokesperson says

Russian state media says underground activity in Nevada should be given an 'international legal assessment'

 By Greg Norman Fox News
Published October 20, 2023 

Putin seen accompanied by soldiers with alleged nuclear briefcase

Russian state run media is reporting Friday that the Kremlin is closely monitoring a high-explosive experiment that the U.S. carried out this week at a nuclear test site in Nevada.

Wednesday's test used chemicals and radioisotopes to "validate new predictive explosion models" that can help detect atomic blasts in other countries, Bloomberg reported, citing the Department of Energy.

The Interfax News Agency said Friday that Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters at a briefing that Russia is now closely monitoring the situation.

"Earlier, the Federation Council [of the Federal Assembly of Russia] stated that the underground tests on October 18 in Nevada should be given an international legal assessment, since the United States is a signatory to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and is obliged to refrain from violating this agreement," Interfax also reported.

US CONDUCTS NUCLEAR TEST IN NEVADA HOURS AFTER RUSSIAN MOVE TO REVOKE GLOBAL TEST BAN




The P tunnel in Area 12 of the Nevada National Security Site in Nevada. The U.S. conducted a high-explosive experiment at a nuclear test site in Nevada on Wednesday. (National Nuclear Security Administration)

Corey Hinderstein, deputy administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation at the National Nuclear Security Administration, said in a statement, "These experiments advance our efforts to develop new technology in support of U.S. nuclear nonproliferation goals."

"They will help reduce global nuclear threats by improving the detection of underground nuclear explosive tests," he added.

The U.S. test is notable because of its timing. Russian lawmakers have announced their intention to revoke their ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

PUTIN SPOTTED IN CHINA WITH NUCLEAR BRIEFCASE NEARBY IN RARE FOOTAGE: REPORT


Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov is seen in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in June 2023. (Getty Images)

A bill will go to the Russian upper house, the Federation Council, which will consider it next week. Federation Council lawmakers have already said they will support the bill.

The treaty, adopted in 1996, bans all nuclear explosions anywhere in the world, although it has never fully entered into force. In addition to the U.S., it is yet to be ratified by China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Israel, Iran and Egypt.


Russia is closely monitoring the U.S. test, the spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday. (ALEXANDER KAZAKOV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov had said last week that Moscow will continue to respect the ban and will only resume nuclear tests if Washington does so first.

Fox News’ Louis Casiano and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Israel war: Kremlin threatens nuclear war after Biden compares Russia to Hamas
WASHINGTON EXAMINER
October 20, 2023 


President Joe Biden angered Kremlin officials by comparing Russian President Vladimir Putin to Hamas in a foreign policy address that drew a parallel between their respective objectives in Ukraine and Israel.

"We do not accept such a tone towards Russia and towards our president,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday, per Russian state media.


Peskov attempted a tone of restrained rebuke, but one of his more prominent Kremlin colleagues adopted another pose. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, whom Biden quoted to make the case that Putin “won’t limit himself just to Ukraine” if he perceives a NATO ally as vulnerable, responded with a broadside against American support for Ukraine and Israel, which he implied would lead to nuclear war.

“Biden called money that should be spent on the death of other people far from the United States a ‘smart investment.’ We are talking about the acquisition of additional weapons worth tens of billions for Ukraine and Israel,” Medvedev, who is the Security Council of Russia's deputy chairman, wrote on social media, according to an unofficial translation. “And the quantity of weapons supplied will sooner or later translate into quality. High-explosive fragmentation, cumulative, incendiary and volumetric detonating charges will turn into nuclear charges.”

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman and the head of the United Russia party Dmitry Medvedev (right) meets with military personnel who have entered into a contract with the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation at the Polivna training ground in Ulyanovsk, Russia, on Oct. 5, 2023.
(Ekaterina Shtukina, Sputnik Pool Photo via AP)

Biden suggested the Hamas terrorist attack that ignited Israel’s war in Gaza “echoes” Putin’s attempt to overthrow the Ukrainian government.

“Hamas and Putin represent different threats, but they share this in common: They both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy — completely annihilate it,” Biden said. “Hamas — its stated purpose for existing is the destruction of the State of Israel and the murder of Jewish people. ... Meanwhile, Putin denies Ukraine has or ever had real statehood. He claims the Soviet Union created Ukraine.”

That comparison is gaining traction in European Union circles, as well.

“Russia and Hamas are alike,” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. “Both have deliberately sought out innocent civilians, including babies and children, to kill and take hostage. This is a barbaric way to fight. And left unchecked, this contagion has the potential to spread from Europe across the Middle East and to the Indo-Pacific.”

Those dovetailing addresses mount a trans-Atlantic argument that Western aid to Ukraine and Israel serves the security interests of the U.S. and its allies. Biden quoted Putin and Medvedev to make that case while calling for Congress to authorize the provision of additional military aid to both countries.

“Putin has already threatened to ‘remind’ — quote, ‘remind’ Poland that their western land was a gift from Russia,” Biden said, before citing Medvedev. “One of his top advisers, a former president of Russia, has called Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania Russia’s 'Baltic provinces.' These are all NATO allies.”

Medvedev, who said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s suspicion of Orthodox priests in Ukraine who are under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church was motivated by “cocaine and Satanism,” insisted that American support for both countries would result in the destruction of both.

"The Intifada will be eternal,” he wrote, referring to Palestinian terrorism. “The Church [in Ukraine] will be reborn, but through the blood and suffering of the civil war.”

Peskov, for his part, condemned the “emotion” of Biden’s rhetoric. “There is a lot of emotion in the speeches of various politicians, including high-ranking politicians and statesmen,” the Kremlin spokesman said. “But such rhetoric is hardly appropriate for responsible leaders.”

No comments:

Post a Comment