Putin withdraws Russia from the Nuclear Weapons Test Ban Treaty

On Thursday (November 2, 2023), Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law revoking the country’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, a landmark agreement aimed at completely ending nuclear weapons testing.

It was the document published On the government website. The United States and Russia, both nuclear-armed states, signed the agreement in 1996.

However, according to ReutersMoscow claims that Putin’s decision aims to do this Aligning the Russian situation with the American situation, as the Americans never ratified the agreement.

According to the news agency, Russian diplomats say that Russia will not resume nuclear testing unless Washington does so. They also stated that this action would not change Russia’s nuclear posture or the way the country shares information about its nuclear activities.

Hours after the Russian document was published, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Criticize Putin’s decision on X (formerly Twitter).

“The Russian Federation’s irresponsible decision to withdraw its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty represents a significant step in the wrong direction.he wrote.

On the same social network, SExecutive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Organization, Robert Floyd, said that Russia’s cancellation of its ratification is tantamount to… “Very disappointing and very unfortunate”.