US to start testing nuclear weapons 'on equal basis' with China, Russia

US has more nuclear weapons than any other country; Russia is second, and China is a distant third, says Trump

- 

This handout from the US Air Force shows launching of an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile during a developmental test.

(AFP)

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he had ordered the Pentagon to start nuclear weapons testing "on an equal basis" to China and Russia — an announcement made just minutes before he held a high-stakes summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The move came after Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Moscow had successfully tested a nuclear-capable, nuclear-powered underwater drone, in defiance of Washington's warnings.

"Because of other countries testing programmes, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis," Trump wrote in a social media post.

Following that announcement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday that the weapon tests announced by Putin did not constitute a direct test of an atomic weapon.

Both countries observe a de facto moratorium on testing nuclear warheads, though Russia regularly runs military drills involving systems that are capable of carrying such weapons.

The United States has been a signatory since 1996 to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which bans all atomic test explosions, whether for military or civilian purposes.