The Kremlin commented on Simonyan’s proposal for a nuclear test over Siberia

The editor-in-chief of Rossiya Segodnya and RT Margarita Simonyan does not work in government bodies, her statements do not always reflect the official position of Moscow, said the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov.

Earlier, Simonyan, in her “CHTD” program, called for a thermonuclear explosion over Siberia. According to her, this will be the key to resolving the conflict in Ukraine. “Let’s not forget that Margarita does not work in official government bodies, so her words do not always reflect the official position,” the Kremlin spokesman said.

He noted that Russia did not leave the nuclear testing regime. “This has not happened before, so I don’t think that such discussions are possible now from an official point of view,” Peskov clarified.

September 22, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergei Vershinin statedthat Moscow calls on Washington to immediately ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

As noted in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the CTBT was opened for signature in New York on September 24, 1996, it was signed by 186 states and ratified by 178. Russia ratified the CTBT in 2000. For the CTBT to enter into force, it must be ratified by the 44 states listed in the annex to the treaty.

Of these states, 36 have ratified the CTBT, including three nuclear-weapon states: Russia, the UK and France. Of the remaining eight countries, three did not sign the agreement – India, North Korea and Pakistan; five have signed but not ratified: the United States, China, Egypt, Israel and Iran.