MOSCOW, April 11. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on other states to waste no time and join the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).

"Unwillingness of these states to become full-fledged signatories to the Treaty is regrettable, the more so as some of them claim to leadership and special competences in dealing with issues of global security," Putin said on Monday in a statement on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.

"Once again, we call on their leaders to demonstrate real political will and join the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty as soon as possible," he stressed.

"Russia ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty in 2000 and has been firmly standing in support of the Treaty and the activities of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization. It sees it as its top-priority task to ensure the soonest coming into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty," the Russian leader said. "We hope progress will be reached this year when the Treaty is marking its anniversary."

This treaty, which was worked out twenty years ago, was "a big victory of international diplomacy, an evidence of its efficiency in solving the most pressing problems of global security," Putin said.

"The treaty is an important mechanism of the nuclear arms limitation and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, it is crucial for strengthening international stability," the Russian leader noted, adding that the document "has not come into effect yet." "It future depends largely on actual readiness of all members of the international community to move towards the declared goal of freeing the planet from nuclear weapons," Putin said.

History of the Treaty

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is a multilateral treaty by which states agree to ban all nuclear explosions in all environments, for military or civilian purposes. It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 1996. The document has been signed by more than 180 countries and ratified by more than 160 states but has not entered into force as its enforcement requires ratification by all the 44 countries which possess nuclear weapons or potential possibilities of their creation. Thirty-six of these states, including Russia, Great Britain and France, have ratified the treaty. Three out of the eight remaining states, namely India, North Korea and Pakistan, have not signed it and five others - the United States, China, Egypt, Israel and Iran have signed but not yet ratified it.

Since 1945, more than 2,000 nuclear tests have been carried out throughout the globe. The United States conducted 1,032 nuclear tests in 1945-1992, the former Soviet Union and Russia as it successor conducted 715 tests from 1949 to 1990, France - 210 (1960-1966), China - 45 (1964-1996), Great Britain - 45 (1952-1991). India, Pakistan and North Korea have conducted several nuclear tests each.