President Donald Trump has cozied up to Russian President Vladimir Putin, but that friendship hasn’t helped stop Russia from violating treaties.
While in Japan over the weekend, Trump was dismissive of North Korean missile testing and evidence of ongoing work at possible nuclear sites. Less than 24 hours later, Trump then said that North Korea hasn’t tested any missiles, which flies in the face of Trump’s own intelligence reports.
It seems Russia is taking a similar route with Trump.
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that U.S. Intelligence assessments show Russia “has likely been secretly carrying out very low-yield nuclear tests to upgrade its nuclear arsenal.”
Moscow has said that they are “faithfully adhering to an international treaty banning nuclear tests,” The Journal said. But intelligence shows otherwise.
The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty hasn’t been ratified since 1996 and Trump isn’t likely to garner any progress on it.
“At issue are activities at Novaya Zemlya, a remote archipelago above the Arctic Circle where Russia conducts nuclear tests,” The Journalreported. “There, Russia likely has conducted tests of very-low yields as part of its push to develop new nuclear weapons, U.S. intelligence analysts say.”
“The United States believes that Russia probably is not adhering to its nuclear testing moratorium in a manner consistent with the ‘zero yield’ standard,” The Journal cited Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, the director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency.
Trump has not said a word about the intelligence.
Read the full report at The Wall Street Journal.
