The speaker of the lower chamber of parliament announced on Friday that Russia will soon propose withdrawing its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
A day after President Vladimir Putin raised the prospect of such a move, which could further inflame relations between Russia and the West amid Moscow’s military incursion in Ukraine, Vyacheslav Volodin made the declaration.
“At the next meeting of the State Duma Council we will definitely discuss the issue of revoking ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty,” Volodin said in a statement.
“This is in line with the national interests of our state. And it will be a mirror response to the United States which has not yet ratified the treaty.”
In 2000, Russia ratified the agreement. Washington declared a ban on tests in 1992 and signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996, though it has not yet been properly ratified.
“Theoretically, it is possible to revoke ratification, and if we do this, this will be enough,” Putin said at a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club on Thursday.
Putin ordered the mobilization of Russian nuclear forces following the commencement of Moscow’s attack in Ukraine, and his nuclear rhetoric intensified, escalating fears that he was prepared to start a nuclear exchange.
