Authored by Jason Ditz via AntiWar.com, US military intelligence agency the DIA has issued a new statement directly accusing the Russian government of conducting low-yield nuclear tests in the course of developing more advanced nuclear arms. "The U.S. government, including the Intelligence Community, has assessed that Russia has conducted nuclear weapons tests that have created nuclear yield. Regarding China, the information raised at the Hudson Institute, coupled with China's lack of transparency on their nuclear testing activities, naturally raise questions about those activities in relation to the "zero yield" nuclear weapons testing moratorium adhered to by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. These are actions that the U.S. government characterizes as inconsistent with the commitments undertaken by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France." This is the second time the DIA has suggested Russia was conducting nuclear tests in the past month. The most recent statement, as with the previous one, came with no evidence that any such testing ever took place. Russia’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning the US allegations as a “crude provocation,” saying that the allegations are groundless. It is unlikely that Russia would need to carry out nuclear tests in 2019, as generations of nuclear weapons development put them in a position that makes them more than capable of making such arms. As one Russian MP pointed out last time the DIA made such an accusation, nuclear tests aren’t exactly secret. There is a huge global array of seismic devices that would immediately detect any nuclear tests carried out, and no such tests have been detected in Russia.