The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday that Moscow is committed to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and to strengthening the nuclear non-proliferation regime.
According to a Moscow diplomacy statement quoted by the Russian agency TASS, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov met today with Robert Floyd, executive secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Organization of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, after he had expressed “Russia’s commitment to the treaty and to the strengthening of the nuclear non-proliferation regime”.
The Russian ministry stressed that the parties discussed Moscow’s interaction with the Preparatory Commission of the Treaty, including with regard to the establishment in Russia of a part of the International Surveillance System, which is “a key component of the verification mechanism” of the persons treated .
The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was established in New York in 1996 with the main task of facilitating the entry into force of the Treaty binding 44 states, including Russia, and establishing a verification mechanism, with the aim of preventing nuclear explosions anywhere above or below on the ground and in water, as this is an essential part of the international framework for the control and disarmament of nuclear weapons.
Russia has the world’s largest nuclear arsenal and has been at war with Ukraine since its invasion of the neighboring country on February 24, 2022, which was condemned by most of the international community.
In the past year, Moscow has not used such weapons in the conflict, but Moscow has moved part of its arsenal to Belarus, a country linked to Moscow and neighboring Ukraine and NATO countries such as Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
The possibility of resorting to nuclear weapons is often cited by Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president and current vice-president of the Russian Security Council, as a threat to Western countries providing military support to Kiev.
The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian soil has plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
Source: DN
