MOSCOW, November 9. /TASS/. Moscow has not withdrawn its signature to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and it will continue to adhere to its provisions, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has said.
"We have confined ourselves to restoring the balance. Once again: we have not gone anywhere further. Russia has not withdrawn its signature to the treaty and it will continue to adhere to its provisions," he said in an interview with RTVI.
"Russia has practically completed the creation of a segment of the international monitoring system on its territory, which includes both geo-seismic and acoustic stations, and equipment to monitor the release into the atmosphere of noble gases that are produced during nuclear tests, including underground ones. All this reflects our full commitment to the spirit and letter of the treaty," Ryabkov said.
"There are countries that have neither signed nor ratified the CTBT. Among those who have not ratified it the US is not alone," Ryabkov noted. "Now we are on a par in this regard with the US and some other states that have signed the treaty, but not ratified it. The political logic of proportionate retaliation has worked."
Ryabkov explained that it was simply impossible to tolerate an imbalance in such an essential sphere in a situation where the United States was pursuing an outspokenly hostile course toward Russia.
"The Russian president made this decision by signing the relevant federal law, which was initiated by and passed by the State Duma and then approved by the Federation Council. Now we have restored the balance that had been ignored by the United States for 23 years," he added.
Ryabkov pointed out that "some US administrations, including the administration of [former US President Donald] Trump, had been bragging that the CTBT would never be ratified.
"The administration of [US President Joe] Biden, while declaring something in very general terms and continuing to repeat these mantras of theirs against the backdrop of the withdrawal of Russian ratification, has in fact also done nothing to move this issue forward," he added.
"I can repeat this in front of any audience: those who are concerned about our resumption or non-resumption of nuclear testing should go to Washington at once and ask, "Sirs, are you going to conduct nuclear tests?" They will say, ‘No, we are not.’ Fine! That means that Russia will refrain from this as well. But if they change their mind and start acting differently, there should be no illusions: we will respond in a tit-for-tat manner," Ryabkov said. The subject remains open.".