Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends Russian President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the Kremlin on January 22, 2026 in Moscow, Russia. | Photo credit: Reuters
The Kremlin said on Wednesday (Feb 18, 2026) that neither China nor Russia had conducted secret nuclear tests, denying US allegations that Beijing had done so.
The United States this month accused China of conducting a secret nuclear test in 2020, prompting calls for a new, broader arms control treaty to bring Russia on board with China.
“We have heard many indications of some tests. Both the Russian Federation and China have been mentioned in this regard. Neither the Russian Federation nor China has conducted any nuclear tests,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“We also know that the representative of the People’s Republic of China categorically denied these allegations, so this is the situation,” Peskov added.
US President Donald Trump has been pressing China to join the US and Russia in negotiating a replacement treaty for New START, the last US-Russian nuclear arms control treaty, which expired on February 5.
The expiration of the treaty has led to concerns among some experts that the world is plunging into a nuclear arms race, but other arms control experts say such fears are exaggerated.
Published – February 18, 2026 04:33 pm IST
