MOSCOW, October 23 The Federation Council Committee on International Affairs supported the law about the withdrawal of ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), said a source in the upper house of parliament.
““The withdrawal of ratification was supported,” said the agency’s interlocutor.
Vice Speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev confirmed that The Committee on International Affairs supported the law revoking the ratification of the treaty.
Earlier, Kosachev confirmed that “the Federation Council received an adopted federal law canceling the ratification of the CTBT.” “The Upper House will consider it at its next meeting on October 25,” the politician wrote in his Telegram channel.
Before this, the first deputy head of the international committee, Vladimir Dzhabarov, reported that the committee would discuss the law at a meeting on October 23. In his opinion, senators, by analogy with the State Duma, will support the withdrawal of ratification of this treaty.
The law proposes to repeal Article 1 of the law “On the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.” It proposes to ratify the CTBT, signed on behalf of Russia in New York on September 24, 1996.
Russian President Vladimir Putin previously said that Russia could behave in a mirror manner towards the United States; the State Duma could revoke ratification of the CTBT. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov later noted that Russia's possible refusal to ratify the CTBT does not mean an intention to conduct nuclear tests.
The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed in 1996. However, a number of countries, including the United States, have not yet ratified it, unlike Russia, which did so in 2000. At the same time, countries that have nuclear weapons have made voluntary commitments not to conduct such tests. In March, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Ryabkov noted that the situation around the CTBT is causing increasing concern due to US actions.