MOSCOW, October 12. /TASS/. The State Duma will approve a bill to withdraw the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in the final, third reading on October 19, Leonid Slutsky, the head of the State Duma's Foreign Affairs Committee and leader of the LDPR, has told the media.
"We will have the first reading on Tuesday, October 17, the second reading on October 18, and finally, on October 19, Thursday, the State Duma will pass the new federal law [in the third reading]," he said.
Slutsky said the bill would be co-authored by all Duma members. Slutsky also explained that Russia was not withdrawing from the CTBT, but merely revoking the instrument of ratification in response to US actions.
CTBT ratification issue
On Monday, the State Duma’s Council, at the suggestion of the lower house’s speaker, Vyacheslav Volodin, instructed the Duma Foreign Affairs Committee to contact the Russian Foreign Ministry over the issue of revoking the ratification of the treaty.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club that Russia could revoke the ratification of the CTBT since the United States had not ratified the document. It was up to the State Duma to make a decision, Putin said. As Volodin noted, the decision to revoke the ratification corresponded to Russia's national interests and "will be a proportionate response to the United States, which has not ratified the treaty to this day."