Methods to Hide Nuke Tests Being Developed Abroad - Russian MoD

According to the Russian military, nuclear-armed states have found a way to bypass the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which prohibits nuclear testing in the air, space, and underwater, by conducting the tests underground.

Russian military experts in the field of control over nuclear tests note the existence of improved methods to conceal nuclear explosions, so the Russian Federation is developing new methods to track such events, Colonel Igor Tokarev, chief of the 12th Chief Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, told Sputnik.

According to Tokarev, states in possession of nuclear weapons have begun conducting underground nuclear explosions that can be detected exclusively by seismic monitoring.

"It is technically simpler to carry out such tests, and such methods are available now and are being improved," Tokarev said.

Tokarev claimed, that those methods include a reduction in the power of nuclear charges, testing massive materials that reduce the intensity of seismic waves, testing at a deep depth, testing in seismic zones, where the tracking is difficult, etc.

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The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which was finalized in 1996 and ratified by 166 countries, provides for a legally binding global prohibition against nuclear explosive tests or any other nuclear explosions.