Vladimir Putin has signed into law Russia withdrawing its ratification of the global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests, a step condemned by the US and the organisation that promotes adherence to the landmark arms control pact.
The move, though expected, is evidence of the deep chill between the United States and Russia over the war in Ukraine, whose ties are at their lowest level since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis and what Moscow casts as Washington’s attempts to stymie the emergence of a new multipolar world order.
Washington expressed deep concern about Russia’s decision, saying it was a step in the wrong direction. “Russia’s action will only serve to set back confidence in the international arms control regime,” US secretary of state Antony Blinken said in a statement.
Moscow said its deratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) was merely designed to bring Russia into line with the US, which signed but never ratified the treaty. The US signed the CTBT in 1996 but the Senate did not ratify it. Successive US administrations however have observed a moratorium on testing nuclear weapons.
Russia will not resume nuclear testing unless Washington does, said Russian diplomats.
Speaking in Sochi a month ago, the Russian president made several references to nuclear weapons. He said he was “not ready to say now whether we really need or don’t need to conduct tests”, adding “As a rule, experts say, with a new weapon – you need to make sure that the special warhead will work without failures.”
Since the all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Putin and other Russian officials have frequently drawn attention to the country’s nuclear arsenal, the biggest in the world, in an attempt to deter other countries from helping Ukraine resist the invasion.
Any Russian nuclear test would be the first since 1990, the last conducted by the Soviet Union. Renewed testing by a nuclear superpower would undo one of the principal advances in non-proliferation since the cold war.
Robert Floyd, head of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, whose job is to promote recognition of the treaty and build up its verification regime to ensure no nuclear tests go undetected, condemned Russia’s step.
“Today’s decision by the Russian Federation to revoke its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty is very disappointing and deeply regrettable,” Floyd, who had tried to lobby senior Russian officials to get them to change their mind, said.
The treaty established a global network of observation posts that can detect the sound, shock waves or radioactive fallout from a nuclear explosion.
Post-Soviet Russia has not carried out a nuclear test. No country except North Korea has conducted a test involving a nuclear explosion this century.
Andrey Baklitskiy, senior researcher at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, said last month that Russia’s deratification of the CTBT was part of a “slippery slope” towards resuming testing. It is part of a disturbing trend in recent years that has seen arms control pacts scrapped or suspended, he said.
“We don’t know what steps will follow and when, but we know where this road ends. And we don’t want to go there,” he said.
Putin’s approval of the de-ratification law was posted on a government website which said the decision took immediate effect. Russia’s parliament has already approved the step.
With Reuters