Moscow - Russia expressed surprise yesterday at a US report that there had been a "seismic event" 12 days ago in the vicinity of a Russian nuclear test site and denied it had carried out an atomic test.
"I don't know what seismic activity they're talking about," a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Ministry said. "No nuclear tests were carried out at Novaya Zemlya. Russia has voluntarily given up nuclear testing and sticks to this position."
The US said earlier it had detected a "seismic event" with explosive characteristics in the vicinity of the Russian nuclear test range at Novaya Zemlya on August 16th.