Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the law on Thursday that revokes ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), the official TASS agency reported.
The document, which was published on the government’s official legal information portal, will enter into force immediately, after approval by both chambers of the Russian Federal Assembly.
The bill was approved by the Senate on October 25, after receiving approval from the State Duma (lower house of parliament) a week earlier.
Russian officials said the withdrawal does not mean Russia will resume nuclear testing, at least for now, as “the moratorium” remains in place, according to Spanish news agency EFE.
“The Russian president has formulated it very clearly: we must prepare our rehearsal locations to resume rehearsals”said Deputy Foreign Minister Serguei Riabkov.
“In practice, however, testing can only resume after the United States has conducted similar testing.”he added, quoted by EFE.
Adopted by the UN General Assembly on September 10, 1996, the CTBT has been signed by 185 countries, including Russia, which ratified it on June 30, 2000.
Nine countries that possess or have the potential to create nuclear weapons have never ratified the treaty, including the United States, China, Iran and Israel, while India, Pakistan, North Korea and Syria have not even signed it.
Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin described the vote as “a response to a hateful attitude of the United States towards its obligations to maintain global security,” according to French agency AFP.
The treaty never entered into force because it was not ratified by a sufficient number of the 44 countries that had nuclear facilities at the time of its creation.
In early October, Putin announced that Russia could withdraw ratification of the CTBT in response to the United States’ lack of ratification.
“I’m not ready to say whether or not we should resume testing.”he said at the time, praising the development of new super-powerful Russian missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Since the start of the war against Ukraine in February 2022, Putin has hinted at the possibility of resorting to nuclear weapons and deploying tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring and ally Belarus in the summer of 2023.
In late October, Russia also tested ballistic missiles to prepare its armed forces for a “mass nuclear attack” in retaliation.
Russia’s nuclear doctrine provides for the “strictly defensive” use of nuclear weapons in the event of an attack on Russia with weapons of mass destruction or aggression with conventional weapons “that threaten the survival of the state”.
In February, Russia also suspended participation in the New Start nuclear disarmament treaty signed with the United States in 2010, the last bilateral agreement between Russians and Americans.
Source: DN
