UN, October 16 /TASS/. Russia will not be the first to conduct nuclear tests, if the State Duma makes a decision to revoke the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), Director of the Foreign Ministry’s Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Department Vladimir Yermakov said on Monday.

"In this case [the ratification revocation], Russia will remain the state that signed the treaty with all the ensuing rights and commitments. Our country will also continue complying with the moratorium on nuclear tests introduced by the Russian president’s decree back in 1992. As President of Russia Vladimir Putin said in his address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on February 21, 2023, we will not be the first to conduct nuclear tests. Russia will do this, only if the United States first takes this step," the senior diplomat told the Russian media.

Russia ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty in 2000 and "had been patiently waiting ever since for the Unites States to make a similar move." However, Washington "has been behaving ever more cynically" with every passing year and unceremoniously dictates full-fledged CTBT member states how they should implement this treaty, Yermakov said.

Washington keeps maintaining its proving ground in Nevada in a high-readiness state. That is why, Moscow believes that the Americans do not abandon the idea of conducting a full-fledged nuclear test as part of modernization of their nuclear arsenal, the high-ranking Russian diplomat said.

At the proposal of State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, the Duma’s Council instructed the Committee on International Affairs jointly with the Foreign Ministry on October 9 to look into the issue of revoking the treaty’s ratification.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a plenary session of the Valdai International Discussion Club that Russia might revoke the ratification of the CTBT because the United States had not ratified the document. The relevant issue is the State Duma’s competence, he emphasized. As Duma Speaker Volodin noted, a decision on revoking the document’s ratification was consistent with Russia's national interests and "will be a proportionate response to the United States, which has not ratified the treaty to date."