The Federation Council will consider the cancellation of ratification of the CTBT on October 25

The law on revoking the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), approved by the State Duma, has been submitted to the Federation Council and will be considered on October 25. About it reported Vice Speaker of the Upper House of Parliament Konstantin Kosachev in his Telegram channel.

“The Federation Council has received the adopted Federal Law canceling the ratification of the CTBT. The Upper House will consider it at its next meeting on October 25,” he wrote.

Kosachev also commented on the testing at a nuclear test site in the United States on the day the State Duma approved the law canceling the ratification of the CTBT. In his assessment, this is an unambiguous signal to Russia that Washington is not interested in “neither nuclear parity and mutual deterrence, nor strategic stability in general.” At the same time, he pointed out that the United States did not have the right to conduct such tests, since they signed the treaty, although it was not ratified in 1996.

“Between signature and ratification, the state must in good faith refrain from actions that would deprive the treaty of its object and purpose,” the senator emphasized.

A bill to revoke ratification of the CTBT was submitted to the State Duma on October 14. Its authors were virtually all deputies of the lower house of parliament, led by faction leaders. The document was adopted in the first reading on October 17, and in the second and third readings on October 18. The US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) later reported about conducting tests at a nuclear test site on the same day.

The question of the need to revoke ratification was raised by Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club on October 5. At the same time, Putin clarified that he cannot say now whether Russia needs nuclear weapons tests. Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov explained that the withdrawal of ratification does not mean Russia’s intention to conduct nuclear tests.

Russia signed an agreement to accept the treaty on September 24, 1996. The document prohibits nuclear weapons tests and nuclear explosions for peaceful purposes. The moratorium applies in the atmosphere, in space, under water and underground. 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.