U.S. Military Intelligence Steps Up Accusation Against Russia over Nuclear Testing

[Anon-C]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-military-intelligence-steps-up-accusation-against-russia-over-nuclear-testing/2019/06/13/2dadf2e2-8e26-11e9-b162-8f6f41ec3c04_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.846f7ae005f3

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The DIA’s original accusations in late May came after the Wall Street Journal reported that a new U.S. intelligence assessment found Russia “likely” has tested nuclear weapons with very low yields at Novaya Zemlya, a collection of islands in the Arctic Circle.
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In addition to provoking a rebuke from Russia, the U.S. government’s accusations about Russian low-yield testing have prompted skepticism among some disarmament advocates.

The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, Calif., said its regular open-source monitoring of Novaya Zemlya hadn’t detected any alarming activity.

In a statement late last month, the center’s Eurasia program director, Sarah Bidgood, said that absent new evidence that Russia is conducting low-yield tests, it appears that U.S. officials are rehashing past allegations about Russian test violations “in order to support the narrative that Russia is an unreliable partner in arms control, with whom verification does not work.”

Bidgood said the accusations could be an effort by U.S. officials to lay the groundwork for a decision not pursue an extension of the 2010 New START accord with Russia, which expires in early 2021.


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Not the cleanest excerpt, sorry.