UNITED NATIONS, August 29. /TASS/. The US is calling on all countries possessing nuclear weapons to declare or maintain a moratorium on the testing of these weapons, said Bonnie Jenkins, US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security.

"We were the first to sign the CTBT (the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty - TASS) open for signature in September 1996. Since then, the United States has maintained a zero-yield moratorium on nuclear testing and calls on all states possessing nuclear weapons to declare or maintain such a moratorium," she said at a UN General Assembly meeting dedicated to the International Day Against Nuclear Tests.

She added, "While these voluntary moratoria help to maintain the international norm against nuclear explosive testing, we also recognize there is no substitute for the legally binding ban that an enforce CTBT will provide."

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was adopted in New York on July 7, 2017, with the support of 122 UN member states following negotiations that did not include nuclear powers including Russia, Britain, China, France, the US and the UK. The treaty entered into force last January after more than 50 countries ratified it. The nuclear powers did not join the pact.