Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Moscow might consider reversing its decision to ratify the bill passed in 2000.
Russia will push for the ratification of a global nuclear test ban to be lifted to be on par with the United States, but a senior Russian diplomat said on Tuesday that Moscow would only resume nuclear testing if Washington did so first.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told reporters that Russia would cancel ratification of the nuclear test ban treaty in order to give a mirror response to the United States. He added that if the US conducts nuclear tests, ” we will be forced to mirror that as well.”
The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, adopted in 1996 and known as the CTBT, prohibits any nuclear explosions anywhere in the world, although it has never entered into full force. The US and Russian presidents signed the treaty, but the US never ratified it.
Putin said he had not yet formed an opinion on the issue, although some experts said nuclear testing was necessary.
Earlier, it was reported that the US maintains the infrastructure of the Nevada nuclear test site in full operational readiness. This means that the state can plan to test new nuclear warheads.
