Russia has pegged the number of nuclear tests conducted worldwide in the past 50 years at as many as 730, not including blasts set off by the Kremlin.

The head of the Defense Ministry Special Monitoring Service told a Russian newspaper the figure was arrived at using monitoring data compiled under the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the RIA Novosti news agency said Tuesday.

Russia has access to data recorded by more than 320 stations belonging to the NTBT international monitoring system, Col. Gen. Vladimir Verkhovtev said.

The explosions began with the U.S. Manhattan Project during World War II and include tests conducted by the United States, France, China, India and Pakistan. Soviet and Russian tests were not included in Verkhotev's tally, the report said.

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