Russia parliament close to revoking Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty ratification

MOSCOW, (Reuters): Russia’s parliament took the first step on Tuesday towards revoking ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, blaming what a top lawmaker called the irresponsible attitude of the United States to global security.

Parliament’s lower house, the Duma, voted by 412 to zero, with no abstentions, to approve the withdrawal of the ratification in the first of three readings.

President Vladimir Putin said on October 5 that he was not ready to say whether or not Russia should resume nuclear testing after calls from some Russian security experts and lawmakers to test a nuclear bomb as a warning to the West.

“I am not ready now to say whether we should conduct nuclear tests or not. But to behave in a mirror way in relations with the United States – I repeat once again, they signed but did not, and we signed and ratified it – in principle, one can behave in a mirror way with the United States.”

State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin ahead of a debate and parliamentary vote on revoking ratification said, “in the interests of ensuring the security of our country, we are withdrawing the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.”

Volodin said that while Russia had ratified the 1996 treaty in 2000, Washington had failed to ratify because of its “irresponsible attitude to global security issues”: “The Russian Federation will do everything to protect its citizens and to maintain global strategic parity,” Volodin said.

Russia says the aim is to restore parity with the United States, which has signed but never ratified the 1996 treaty, and that it will not resume testing unless Washington does.

No country except North Korea has conducted a test involving a nuclear explosion this century. At least one senior Russian security expert has said Russia should test a nuclear bomb as a warning to the West, but President Vladimir Putin said on Oct.5 he was not ready to say whether a test was needed or not.

After 440 of the Duma’s 450 members signed the deratification bill as sponsors last week, they guaranteed its swift and near-unanimous passage.

“In the interests of ensuring the security of our country, we are withdrawing the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty,” Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said before the start of Tuesday’s session.

Volodin said that while Russia had ratified the 1996 treaty in 2000, Washington had failed to ratify because of its “irresponsible attitude to global security issues”.

“The Russian Federation will do everything to protect its citizens and to maintain global strategic parity,” Volodin said.

While Russia is revoking ratification, it will remain a signatory to the CTBT and says it will continue to supply data to the global monitoring system which alerts the world to any nuclear test.