Putin pulls Russia out of treaty banning nuclear tests, ally warns Poland

Russian President Vladimir Putin has revoked his country's ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), a global pact banning nuclear weapons tests, the Cold War-era agreement meant to bring Russia into line with the United States.

On October 18, Russia's lower house, the State Duma, unanimously passed the second and third readings of a bill that revoked Russia's ratification of the 1966 CTBT, which outlaws all nuclear explosions, including live tests of nuclear weapons.

On Thursday, Putin officially signed into law the withdrawal of ratification of the treaty, which kept a lid on nuclear testing for decades.

With his signature, the legislation takes immediate effect, at a time of acute tension with the West, particularly over Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine, which has put ties between Washington and Moscow at their lowest since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.

Russia blames the US for attempting to stymie the emergence of a new multipolar world order.

Putin had earlier urged the Duma to de-ratify the CTBT, in order to "mirror" the position of the US, which has signed but never ratified the global treaty, which established a global network of observation posts capable of detecting the sound, shockwaves or radioactive fallout from a nuclear explosion.

The Russian leader on October 5 said, "I hear calls to start testing nuclear weapons. However, I am not ready to say whether we really need to conduct tests or not."

However, Russian diplomats, according to Reuters, insist that Moscow will not resume nuclear testing unless Washington does.

https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/11/02/713899/Russia-Putin-CTBT-nuclear-testing-US-Duma-Poland-Medvedev