Russia to reverse nuclear test ban pact ratification, envoy says

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Russia to reverse nuclear test ban pact ratification, envoy says

By Francois Murphy and Jonathan Landay
October 6, 2023 5:43 PM EDT Updated a day ago

VIENNA/WASHINGTON, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Russia's envoy to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) said on Friday that Moscow will revoke its ratification of the pact, a move that Washington denounced as endangering "the global norm" against nuclear test blasts.

The announcement by Mikhail Ulyanov added new fuel to tensions between Russia and the United States over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and arms control disputes between the world's largest nuclear weapons powers.

Ulyanov, Moscow's envoy to the CTBTO, said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that "#Russia plans to revoke ratification (which took place in the year 2000) of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty."

"The aim is to be on equal footing with the #US who signed the Treaty, but didn't ratify it. Revocation doesn't mean the intention to resume nuclear tests," he said.

The CTBT has been signed by 187 countries and ratified by 178 but cannot go into force until eight specific holdouts have signed and ratified it. China, Egypt, Iran, and Israel have signed but not ratified it. North Korea, India and Pakistan have not signed.

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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/nuclear-test-ban-body-concerning-if-russia-considering-quitting-treaty-2023-10-06/

Alternate non-paywalled link: https://archive.li/pDc1r

[Chainfire]

1. More blackmail. Threats are all that Putin has left.

Putin needs to be told something like, that if he breaks the ban and tests new nuclear weapons that he can kiss his navy goodbye. A fair and balanced response. There is no doubt in my mind that we know where every Russian vessel, larger larger than a pair of water wings, is at any given time.