US 'Disturbed' As Russia Announces Revocation Of Nuclear Weapons Test Treaty

Eko Hot Blog reports that the United States (U.S.) has expressed its concern on a Russian envoy’s announcement that Moscow will reverse its approval of a 1996 treaty that banned it from testing nuclear weapons.

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This came after the president, Vladimir Putin said his country could revisit the approval of the treaty on nuclear weapons.

The Russian envoy to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), Mikhail Ulyanov, said on Friday that Moscow is withdrawing its approval of the treaty.

Ulyanov’s announcement has, further, increased the tensions between the world’s largest nuclear weapons powers amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the US support for Ukraine.

According to a social media post made by Ulyanov, “Russia plans to revoke ratification [which took place in the year 2000] of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty [CTBT]”.

“The aim is to be on equal footing with the US who signed the treaty, but didn’t ratify it. Revocation doesn’t mean the intention to resume nuclear tests,” he said.

U.S., on the other hands, signed the treaty, but has not ratified the CTBT; it has observed a moratorium on nuclear weapons test explosions since 1992.

In response to Russia’s announcement, the US State Department said it was “disturbed” by the move.

“We are disturbed by the comments of Ambassador Ulyanov in Vienna today,” a US State Department spokesperson said in a statement.

“A move like this by any state party needlessly endangers the global norm against nuclear explosive testing,” the State Department said.

Russia should not be “wielding arms control and irresponsible nuclear rhetoric in a failing attempt to coerce other states”, the State Department added. Suggesting that Moscow’s plan to withdraw from the ratification of the treaty was aimed at mounting pressure on the U.S. and other countries supporting Ukraine in the ongoing war.

Putin noted that the US had signed but not ratified the 1996 nuclear test ban treaty, while Russia had signed and also ratified. Russia might adjust its stance to mirror that of the US, Putin said on Thursday at a forum with foreign affairs experts

“Theoretically, we may revoke the ratification,” he said. “It’s up to the state duma members.

Putin also said that while some have discussed the need for Russia to conduct nuclear tests, he had not yet formed an opinion on the subject.

“I’m not ready to say yet whether it’s necessary for us to conduct tests or not,” he said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “it doesn’t mean a statement about the intention to resume nuclear tests”, when he was asked if Russia’s withdrawal from the treaty would allow for the resumption of nuclear bomb tests.

Revoking Russia’s ratification of the ban would “bring the situation to a common denominator” with the US, Peskov said.

Russia's nuclear weapon at display in Moscow

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, through his spokesman, urged “all nuclear weapon states to publicly reaffirm their moratoriums against nuclear testing and their commitment to the CTBT”, UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said on Friday.

In addition, the executive director of the CTBTO, which monitors compliance, Robert Floyd, with the pact, said that it would “be concerning and deeply unfortunate if any State Signatory were to reconsider its ratification of the CTBT”.

“The Russian Federation has consistently reaffirmed its strong support of the CTBT since its very inception, helping to negotiate the Treaty in the Conference on Disarmament, signing the day it opened for signature on 24 September 1996, and ratifying it in June 2000,” Floyd said.

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“The CTBT has established a powerful norm against nuclear testing and is making an invaluable contribution to international peace and security, for the good of humanity. It is more important than ever that we reinforce that contribution,” he added.

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