Russia is revoking ratification of nuclear test ban treaty: speaker

Vyacheslav Volodin said that while Russia had ratified the 1996 treaty in 2000, Washington had failed to ratify because of its 'irresponsible attitude to global security issues'

Vyacheslav Volodin, Chairman of Russia's State Duma lower house of parliament, attends a plenary session in Moscow, Russia, October 10, 2023. Reuters

Russia is revoking ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty because of the irresponsible attitude of the United States to global security, the speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament said on Tuesday.

President Vladimir Putin said on Oct 5 that he was not ready to say whether or not Russia should resume nuclear testing after calls from some Russian security experts and lawmakers to test a nuclear bomb as a warning to the West.

"In the interests of ensuring the security of our country, we are withdrawing the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty," Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said ahead of a debate and parliamentary vote on revoking ratification.

Volodin said that while Russia had ratified the 1996 treaty in 2000, Washington had failed to ratify because of its "irresponsible attitude to global security issues".

Russia is revoking ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty because of the irresponsible attitude of the United States to global security, the speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament said on Tuesday.

President Vladimir Putin said on Oct 5 that he was not ready to say whether or not Russia should resume nuclear testing after calls from some Russian security experts and lawmakers to test a nuclear bomb as a warning to the West.

"In the interests of ensuring the security of our country, we are withdrawing the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty," Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said ahead of a debate and parliamentary vote on revoking ratification.

Volodin said that while Russia had ratified the 1996 treaty in 2000, Washington had failed to ratify because of its "irresponsible attitude to global security issues".

A bipartisan panel appointed by the US Congress said on Thursday that Washington must prepare for possible simultaneous wars with Moscow and Beijing by expanding its conventional forces, strengthening alliances and enhancing its nuclear weapons modernization programme.

Putin has dismissed that talk as nonsense and has said that he sees no need to change Russia's nuclear doctrine - a document that outlines that Russia would only order a strike with nuclear weapons if it was attacked, or if the existence of the state was endangered by an attack with conventional weapons.

"I hear calls to start testing nuclear weapons, to return to testing," Putin said on Oct 5. "I am not ready to say whether we really need to conduct tests or not, but it is possible theoretically to behave in the same way as the United States."

Since the CTBT, 10 nuclear tests have taken place. India conducted two in 1998, Pakistan also two in 1998, and North Korea conducted tests in 2006, 2009, 2013, twice in 2016, and 2017, according to the United Nations.