Supposedly dependent on the US, Russia is moving forward with plans for new nuclear weapons tests
October 10, 2023, 2:55 pm Listen to the article
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Russia may soon carry out nuclear weapons tests because the state wants to revoke its ratification of the global ban treaty. The reason is that the United States never signed this treaty. Whether Russia actually resumes testing also depends on the US.
With its planned withdrawal from another international security treaty, Russia is paving the way for a possible resumption of nuclear weapons testing. A mechanism must be established within a week to withdraw Russia’s ratification of the global Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), deputy Adalbi Shchagoshev told Russian news agency Interfax. Russia is thus creating conditions similar to those in the USA, said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov in Moscow.
The US has never ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and could test nuclear weapons at any time. The head of the Russian parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, announced last week that ratification of the CTBT would be withdrawn. The State Duma, which is controlled by the Kremlin, would have to decide this.
The Kremlin said Russia’s withdrawal from the treaty did not mean the nuclear power would immediately begin testing nuclear weapons. However, President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow, like Washington, must also be capable of carrying out these tests. Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov emphasized that Russia would only test nuclear weapons if the United States did so as well.
“We have no other choice”
Russia has already waited 23 years for something to happen in the US, that was long enough, Ryabkov said. “We have no choice but to adjust our position here.” Putin recently made it clear that Russia must prepare its test sites for the resumption of such tests.
Russia has repeatedly tested nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles and a variety of other new weapons, albeit without nuclear warheads. Nuclear weapons testing would then be possible again in the future. In the conflict with the US, Russia has recently withdrawn from several disarmament treaties.
The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was passed in 1996 to curb the development of nuclear weapons. A global testing ban has not yet come into force, but since the 1990s all states except North Korea have adhered to it. The CTBT organization in Vienna operates a global network of measuring stations that can detect nuclear tests using pressure waves, as well as chemical and nuclear traces. Russia wants to continue providing data from its own 32 stations.