Moscow, Russia

The Russian parliament on Tuesday (Oct 17) declared that it is revoking ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, an action it says was necessitated as a result of “the irresponsible attitude” of the United States towards global security.

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“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.

The speaker said that while Russia had ratified the 1996 treaty in 2000, the US failed to follow suit because of an “irresponsible attitude to global security issues”.

He added that the Russian Federation will do everything “to protect its citizens and to maintain global strategic parity".

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The announcement from the speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament comes a week after Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was not ready to say whether or not Russia should resume nuclear testing to issue a stern warning to the West.

Russia would remain a signatory

While Russia will revoke the ratification of the nuclear test ban treaty, it will continue to remain a signatory. It means that it will continue to cooperate with the test ban treaty organisation and alert the world before any nuclear test.

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Watch: Putin: Russia successfully tested nuclear-powered missile

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Russian officials have clarified that revoking ratification doesn’t mean the country will test a nuclear bomb. 

Nuclear testing by Russia

The erstwhile Soviet Union conducted the last nuclear test in 1990, with newborn Russia yet to open its account. The US, on the other hand, conducted its last nuclear test in 1992.

Also read: Satellite images hint at expansion of nuclear test sites in US, Russia and China: Report

According to the United Nations, in the five decades between 1945 and 1996, more than 2,000 nuclear tests were carried out, 1,032 of them by the United States and 715 of them by the Soviet Union.

Consequences

Revocation by Russia means that the world could return to an era of nuclear testing, which might also trigger a nuclear race between the US and its adversaries Russia and China.

However, Russian President Putin has maintained that his nation is not willing to return to testing. “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,” he added.

(With inputs from agencies)

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