President Boris Yeltsin last October declared a year-long unilateral moratorium on nuclear tests but Grachev said the ban could not last forever, but that no nuclear testing would take place this year.
Earlier on Tuesday, legislators had said they were hopeful that Russia would extend its moratorium on nuclear tests until next summer.
One lawmaker, Aleksandr Veshnyakov, said the moratorium would probably be extended until at least next June. "What will happen next depends on the U. S. and France, he said.
The United States announced in July that it would limit the number of U. S. weapons tests to six a year. (Reuters, AP)
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