(MENAFN) Moscow has pledged to uphold its international nuclear testing commitments unless other nations violate them first, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced, as tensions escalate following recent U.S. policy shifts.

In a Sunday broadcast interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin, Peskov addressed mounting global concerns after U.S. President Donald Trump issued a Pentagon directive last week preparing for potential nuclear test resumption. Trump alleged Russia and China have conducted clandestine nuclear experiments—claims both nations have flatly rejected.

"Putin has repeatedly stated that Russia is committed to its nuclear test ban obligations, and we have no intention of violating them," Peskov stated during the televised discussion.

President Vladimir Putin previously reinforced Moscow's adherence to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty while simultaneously cautioning that any American or allied resumption of testing would trigger "appropriate retaliatory measures." Certain Western media mischaracterized these statements as immediate preparations for nuclear trials.

Peskov clarified that Putin's directive involved evaluating whether such tests might become strategically necessary—not authorizing their immediate implementation. However, he emphasized reciprocal action remains inevitable if Washington proceeds.

"If another country does this, we will be obliged to do so in order to maintain parity," Peskov explained, describing nuclear equilibrium as "one of the most important components of global security architecture."

The spokesman rejected Western anxieties regarding Russia's recent Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile and Poseidon underwater drone trials, which occurred before Trump's announcement. Peskov insisted neither system involved nuclear detonations, accusing Western analysts of "superficial and incorrect" assessments that conflated nuclear-propulsion testing with actual weapons tests.

Moscow now awaits clarification from Washington regarding Trump's nuclear testing rhetoric, with Peskov calling the matter "too serious" to leave unaddressed.

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance previously framed Trump's testing initiative as necessary verification that America's nuclear stockpile "functions properly." This week, the U.S. Air Force conducted an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile test launch—a weapon system capable of delivering nuclear warheads exceeding 300 kilotons, approximately twenty times the destructive force of the Hiroshima bomb detonated in 1945.

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