Russia passes law pulling ratification of nuclear test ban treaty
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[October 25, 2023]
By Filipp Lebedev and Mark Trevelyan
(Reuters) -Russia's parliament completed the passage of a law on
Wednesday withdrawing ratification of the global treaty banning nuclear
weapons tests, evidence of the deep chill in relations with the United
States as Moscow pursues its war in Ukraine.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia was not prepared to
resume discussing nuclear issues with the U.S. unless Washington dropped
its "hostile" policy.
The bill to deratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)
was approved by 156 votes to zero in the upper house after the lower
house also passed it unanimously. It now goes to President Vladimir
Putin for signing.
Putin had requested the change to "mirror" the position of the United
States, which signed the CTBT in 1996 but never ratified it.
Though it has never formally come into force, the CTBT has made nuclear
testing a taboo - no country except North Korea has conducted a test
involving a nuclear explosion this century.
Russia says it will not resume testing unless Washington does, but arms
control experts say a test by either Russia or the United States could
trigger a new arms race - and more testing by other countries - at a
moment of acute tension, with wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle
East.
CNN published satellite images last month showing that Russia, the
United States and China have all expanded their nuclear test sites in
recent years.
The U.S. Energy Department said last week it had conducted a chemical
explosion at its test site in Nevada "to improve the United States'
ability to detect low-yield nuclear explosions around the world".
Speaking to Russian lawmakers before Wednesday's vote, deputy foreign
minister Sergei Ryabkov said the Nevada blast was "undoubtedly a
political signal".
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Members of Russia's State Duma lower house of parliament attend a
plenary session in Moscow, Russia, October 18, 2023. Russian State
Duma/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
"As our president said, we must be on alert, and if the United
States moves towards the start of nuclear tests, we will have to
respond here in the same way," he said.
Russia says its monitoring stations will keep supplying data to the
global network that detects nuclear blasts.
But In separate comments, RIA news agency quoted Ryabkov as saying
Russia was not ready to resume nuclear talks with the U.S.
Without changes in its "deeply fundamental hostile course", he said,
"a return to dialogue on strategic stability, including the topic of
strategic offensive arms and other topics in the form that was
previously practised, is simply impossible".
Russia accuses Washington of trying to inflict a "strategic defeat"
on it by arming Ukraine in the war. The U.S. says it is helping Kyiv
to defend itself.
The absence of nuclear dialogue has called into question the fate of
the New START treaty, which limits the number of strategic warheads
that Russia and the U.S. can deploy.
Russia suspended the treaty this year and it is due to expire in
2026, leaving the two countries without any remaining bilateral
nuclear weapons agreement.
Ryabkov said Moscow had received an unofficial memo from Washington
on arms control and was looking at it, but it had "no novel
elements".
(Reporting by Filipp Lebedev and Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Kevin
Liffey)
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