VIENNA, March 9. /TASS/. US claims that Russia and China were allegedly conducting nuclear tests have no factual basis, the Russian Permanent Mission to International Organizations in Vienna said.
In late 2025, Washington once again accused Moscow and Beijing of conducting nuclear tests, speculating about low-yield trials on testing ranges in Russia and China. These accusations, which emerged from time to time over the past few years, were not supported by facts.
"The fresh element of 2026 was the fact that the US has publicly accused China of allegedly carrying out nuclear tests at the Lop Nur test site, presenting materials, which, in their opinion, are supposed to prove these accusations. As a key episode, the US side names the June 22, 2020 event, which is being interpreted as a low-yield underground nuclear explosion. However, a professional analysis of these data makes it clear that its accusations are not backed by objective international factual basis and are based predominantly on suggestions and far-fetched interpretations of the available fragmented information," the mission said.
The diplomats explained that until the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) comes into force, the data of its International Monitoring System (IMS) is not enough to draw the final conclusion that a nuclear test has indeed taken place. So far, the system lacks the key verification instrument, namely an on-site inspection.
