On Thursday, the Russian President signed a law withdrawing Russia’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty has not yet entered into force because it has not been ratified by the necessary number of countries.
It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on September 10, 1996 and opened for signature two weeks later. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed by 187 countries, and ratified by 178 countries. Among the nuclear powers, France, Great Britain and Russia have done so so far. All 44 countries with nuclear technology must ratify the treaty for it to enter into force, but the United States, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, Israel, Egypt and North Korea have not done so.
The Russian Parliament decided to withdraw ratification of the agreement on the pretext that the American legislature had not yet ratified the agreement.
The law on de-ratification of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was first passed by the lower house of the Russian Parliament, the State Duma, and then unanimously approved by the Senate at the end of October. In the Duma, Parliament Speaker Vyacheslav Vologin described the vote as “a response to the hateful attitude of the United States towards its obligations to maintain global security.”
In February, Russia suspended its participation in the New START Treaty signed with the United States in 2010 on limiting military offensive weapons.
