A top Russian nuclear official today dismissed U.S. suspicions that Moscow carried out an underground nuclear test, saying a tremor in the north was the result of "an ordinary earthquake."
A tremor with magnitude 3.5 was recorded in the Arctic Kara Sea 12 days ago, just east of the former Soviet nuclear test site on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, according to reports from Norway.Underground nuclear tests were banned under the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, a pact signed by the United States, Russia and scores of other countries. But the treaty has not been ratified in Moscow or in the United States.
State Department and Pentagon officials said Thursday that initial indications suggested an underground explosion was touched off in the area, and the Americans were asking the Russians about the event. Norway and Finland also have asked for an explanation.
But Russia's Atomic Energy Minister Vyacheslav Mikhailov, a veteran of the Soviet nuclear program, insisted there were no grounds for concern.
"An ordinary earthquake took place in the Kara Sea, 60 miles away from Novaya Zemlya," Mikhailov told the ITAR-Tass news agency. "This is a seismic area, and everybody knows it.
"I can state with full responsibility that oscillations recorded during nuclear tests have absolutely different characteristics. The world seismic service can confirm it," he added.
Russia's Earth Physics Institute and its Emergency Situations Ministry said they had no reports of an earthquake. Officials at Russia's Defense Ministry were not available for comment.
In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday that while preliminary indications pointed to an underground explosion, the Pentagon was unable to determine the exact nature of the event. Earthquakes and other seismic phenomena could register in the same manner, said the spokesman, Navy Capt. Michael Doubleday.
Mikhailov insisted that Russia is abiding by its promise not to conduct the nuclear tests.
"The nuclear testing ground on Novaya Zemlya was closed down, and Russia is strictly following the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty," he said.