MOSCOW, October 16. /TASS/. The State Duma has adopted a law on the withdrawal of Russia’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
The document cancels Article 1 of the law On the Ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which contains a provision on the ratification of the treaty signed on behalf of Russia in New York on September 24, 1996. The title of the federal law On the Ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty is changed to On the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
"This decision is absolutely justified. When you hear statements, including those by representatives of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, who are now addressing us, all these European officials should get back to work, and not just sit on their thumbs. And if they took responsibility, they should have ratified this treaty. First of all, this concerns the US itself, thus setting an example by holding themselves accountable," Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said during the plenary session.
The head of the Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs and leader of the LDPR, Leonid Slutsky, noted that the law was passed unanimously.
"If the United States gets the message today, that due to its own behavior, we have revoked the ratification of the treaty and are ready to take appropriate action to maintain global security, it will refrain from testing nuclear weapons," Volodin later told the media.