President Vladimir Putin has approved a bill nullifying Russia’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), citing the need to maintain parity with the United States. Moscow’s move is seen as a “mirror” response to the U.S.’s stance of signing but not ratifying the nuclear test ban.
Both houses of the Russian parliament voted in favor of revoking Moscow’s ratification last month. The CTBT, established in 1996, aims to prohibit all nuclear explosions globally, yet the treaty has not been fully implemented. Apart from Russia and the U.S., countries such as China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Israel, Iran, and Egypt have yet to ratify the treaty.
Amid concerns that Russia might resume nuclear testing to dissuade Western support for Ukraine, some Russian hawks have advocated for the resumption of tests. While Putin acknowledged that some experts advocate for the necessity of conducting nuclear tests, he maintained that he had not formed an opinion on the matter.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov reassured last month that Moscow would uphold the ban and would only resume nuclear testing if the United States were to do so first.
