WASHINGTON, Nov 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticized Russia for leaving the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and called on Moscow to commit not to test.
“Unfortunately, it represents a significant step in the wrong direction, taking us further from, not closer to, entry into force” of the treaty, Blinken said in a statement.
“This continues Moscow’s disturbing and misguided effort to heighten nuclear risks and raise tensions as it pursues its illegal war against Ukraine,” he said.
“Russian officials say Russia’s planned move to withdraw its ratification does not mean that it will resume testing, and we urge Moscow to hold to those statements.”
The United States as well as China, unlike Russia, have never ratified the treaty, a key obstacle for it coming into force.
President George H.W. Bush in 1992 signed into law a unilateral ban on US nuclear testing that has since been extended. But the Senate rejected ratifying the test ban treaty in 1999.
President Joe Biden and his Democratic predecessors have supported ratification but treaties under the US Constitution require two-thirds support, a prohibitive threshold with many Republicans wary of any international limits on US power.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a law revoking Russia’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
The 1996 treaty outlaws all nuclear explosions, including live tests of nuclear weapons, though it never came into force because some key countries — including the United States and China — never ratified it.
The bill to revoke the treaty passed through Russia’s parliament last month in a fast-track process.
During parliamentary hearings, State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said the move to revoke the treaty was a response to the United States’ “cynicism” and “boorish attitudes” on nuclear weapons.
Although it never entered into force, the agreement was ratified by 178 countries, including nuclear powers Russia, France and Britain, and has symbolic value. — NNN-AGENCIES
