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Russia has no intention of giving up moratorium on nuclear testing — diplomat

According to the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Moscow does not rule out that Washington may revoke its signature to the CTBT in the wake of US media reports that it was considering the possibility of resuming nuclear testing
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova Alexander Shcherbak/TASS
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
© Alexander Shcherbak/TASS

MOSCOW, May 28. /TASS/. Moscow will not drop the moratorium on nuclear arms tests as long as it is observed by other signatories to the treaty, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the media on Thursday.

"Russia has no intention of giving up the 1992 moratorium on nuclear tests, as long as it is diligently observed by other nuclear states that are signatories to the Non-Proliferation Treaty," Zakharova said.

According to Zakharova, Moscow does not rule out that Washington may revoke its signature to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in the wake of US media reports that the United States was considering the possibility of resuming nuclear testing.

She stressed that this rumor was launched after repeated claims by US officials at different levels that Russia allegedly failed to observe some US standards of a zero threshold in nuclear testing.

"The scheme is pretty clear. First, far-fetched allegations against others are made. Then the ground work is prepared for some quite obvious steps by the administration," Zakharova said. "We do not rule out that this way Washington is brainwashing the public before revoking its signature to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty."