Stoltenberg said NATO has no plans to resume nuclear tests
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NATO member countries do not plan to resume nuclear tests, said press conferences Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, commenting on Russia’s possible withdrawal of ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
“NATO allies have supported this norm on nuclear testing for more than 25 years, and we have no plans to test again,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a speech at the plenary session of the 20th annual meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club on October 5, said that Russia could theoretically withdraw ratification of the CTBT. He clarified that he cannot say now whether Russia needs nuclear weapons tests.
Later, press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov notedthat the possible withdrawal of ratification does not mean Russia’s intention to conduct nuclear tests. He explained that the president primarily meant “the need to bring the de facto situation to a common denominator.”
October 9 in the State Duma reportedthat the Committee on International Affairs will work until October 18 together with the Russian Foreign Ministry and other departments on the issue of revoking ratification of the CTBT. Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Ryabkov, in turn, said that Russia can resume nuclear tests only after nuclear tests are carried out by the United States. Russia, he added, if ratification of the CTBT is withdrawn, will not stop transmitting data from radionuclide monitoring stations on its territory and receiving data from outside.
The UN General Assembly approved the CTBT on September 24, 1996. The document prohibits testing nuclear weapons and conducting nuclear explosions for peaceful purposes. The moratorium applies in the atmosphere, in space, under water and underground on the territory of all states. The CTBT has not yet entered into force, as it has not been ratified by the United States, Egypt, Israel, Iran and China and has not been signed by India, North Korea and Pakistan.
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