"Our nuclear program has fallen way behind, and they [Russians] have gone wild with their nuclear program. Not good. Our government shouldn’t have allowed that to happen. Russia is new in terms of nuclear. We are old. We’re tired. We’re exhausted in terms of nuclear. A very bad thing," Trump said during the debate, as quoted by the Fortune magazine.
Russia is one of the world's leaders in the sphere of nuclear energy and science. The country's Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation brings together about 400 companies and research-and-development institutions. According to the corporation's website, at the moment it is constructing 45 nuclear reactors in Russia and abroad. Moscow and Washington possess the two largest nuclear arsenals in the world.
The nuclear issue has returned to the agenda of Russian-US bilateral ties last week. On September 3, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered to halt a bilateral Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA) with the United States citing Washington's hostile actions and inability to fulfill US commitments to dispose of surplus weapons-grade plutonium. On Wednesday, the Russian cabinet announced its decision to suspend the deal with the United States on cooperation in nuclear- and energy-related scientific research and development.