The Russian Duma approved this Tuesday the bill that allows Russia to withdraw from its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). That will open the door for Moscow to carry out atomic tests, although it has assured that it will only take that step if the United States does it first.
Formally, the project proposes to repeal Article 1 of the ratification law of more than two decades ago. The initiative was approved unanimously by all deputies present at the Duma plenary session.
The CTBT was approved in 1996 by the United Nations General Assembly. Countries that adhere to it would be prohibited from conducting nuclear weapons tests in all environments (in space, underground, etc.), "anywhere under their jurisdiction and control," the pact details.
Russia and the United States signed the treaty. Moscow ratified it in 2000, and for this purpose the Russian legislature approved a specific law that will now be repealed.
To become law, the repeal bill still needs two more votes in the Duma, ratification in the Federation Council (Upper House) and the signature of the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin.
In 1996 Washington signed the treaty, but did not ratify it then or ever, as did, in addition to Russia and others, China, Egypt, Iran, Israel and India.
This lack of ratification by the United States supports the decision now taken by Russia to back down.
"Washington must finally understand that hegemony on its part does not lead to anything good. A dialogue based on the principles of mutual respect, the absence of double standards and non-interference in the affairs of sovereign states is necessary. The Russian Federation will do everything possible to protect its citizens and maintain global strategic parity," wrote Viacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament, after the first approval.
Volodin justified Russia's withdrawal on Monday "in the interest of guaranteeing the security of our country. And he accused the United States of not ratifying it due to its "irresponsible attitude on global security issues." Instead, "the Russian Federation will everything possible to protect its citizens and maintain global strategic parity.
On October 5, Putin said that Russia was going to revoke the ratification of this treaty because the US had not done so. Later, his spokesperson, Dimitri Peskov, clarified that the Kremlin chief's words did not mean that Russia has plans to carry out nuclear tests.
A senior official from the Russian Foreign Ministry highlighted this same idea to the Tass agency on Monday. "Abandoning ratification does not in any way undermine our constructive approach to the CTBT and does not mean that our country intends to resume nuclear testing," said Vladimir Yermakov, who heads the department on non-proliferation and arms control at the ministry.
"The Russian president has formulated it very clearly: we must prepare our test sites to resume testing. However, in practice, testing can only be resumed after the US conducts similar tests," said Sergei Ryabkov, deputy minister. Russian Foreign Ministry.
The possibility of resuming nuclear tests comes at a time when the conflict in Ukraine has raised tension between Russia and the United States, the main nuclear powers on the planet. A weapons test that included a nuclear explosion could further aggravate the current international situation.
The great powers stopped nuclear testing in the years after the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991. In the 21st century, no country, with the exception of North Korea, has carried out tests with nuclear explosions.
