Russian President Putin signed the law on withdrawal of ratification of the global Treaty on the ban of nuclear weapons tests.
Reuters writes about it.
The Kremlin says its deratification of the treaty is aimed at giving Russia the same rights as the United States, which has signed but not ratified the treaty.
Russian diplomats have said that Moscow will not resume nuclear tests unless Washington does. At the same time, in February 2023, Putin ordered the preparation of a test site for nuclear weapons on Novaya Zemlya.
At the same time, on October 25, the Russian military conducted a training "massive nuclear strike" — from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk Region at the "Kura" test site in Kamchatka, they launched the Yars intercontinental ballistic missile, and from the Barents Sea, they launched a ballistic missile from the Tula nuclear submarine cruiser "Blue".
The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty was adopted at the 50th session of the UN General Assembly in September 1996. It was signed by 177 states, but ratified by 138.
- The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in an annual report that nuclear-weapon states are modernizing and building up their arsenals. The USA and Russia own almost 90% of the nuclear weapons in the world. Their combined 2,000 warheads are in a state of increased combat capability.
- Earlier, Russia suspended participation in the Strategic Offensive Arms Reduction Treaty signed with the United States in 2010.