warning such a move would spark a dangerous "domino effect". Speaking before the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Russian ambassador Gennady Gatilov decried US President Donald Trump's announcement last year that his country was prepared to stage its first nuclear test since 1992. "We warn that the US withdrawal from its national moratorium would trigger a domino effect," he said, speaking through a translator, stressing that "the responsibility for the consequences would rest entirely with Washington". Christopher Yeaw, the US assistant secretary of state for arms control and nonproliferation, indicated last week that Trump was serious when he said in October that the United States would resume nuclear testing.

"As the president has said, the United States will return to testing on a -- quote -- 'equal basis,'" Yeaw said at the Hudson Institute think tank. He stressed that "equal basis doesn't mean we're going back to Ivy Mike-style atmospheric testing in the multi-megaton range", referring to a massive 1952 thermonuclear detonation in the South Pacific. "Equal basis, however, presumes a response to a prior standard. Look no further than China or Russia for that standard," he said. He did not announce a timing for a new test, saying Trump would make a decision, but that any test would be at a "level playing field." Before the Conference on Disarmament on Monday, Yeaw doubled down on US accusations of Chinese secret nuclear tests. He provided more details on a low-yield test Washington says Beijing conducted in 2020 and accused China of preparing more explosions with larger yields. (Bssnews)