MOSCOW, October 30. /TASS/. The United States has yet to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, and there is potential for Washington to conduct underground nuclear tests at the Nevada test site, according to Aslan Abashidze, Director of the Law Institute at the People’s Friendship University (RUDN), who was speaking to TASS.

Previously, US President Donald Trump announced that he had instructed the Pentagon to immediately resume nuclear weapons testing. However, he did not specify the nature of the tests or whether they would involve detonating nuclear warheads. Abashidze recalled that in 1963, the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons Tests in Water, Atmosphere, and Outer Space was signed by the USSR, the United States, and Great Britain. This treaty prohibited testing in those three media and limited underground test yields.

He further noted that subsequent to this, other nations - both nuclear and non-nuclear - joined the treaty. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) was signed in 1996. For it to enter into force, it requires ratification by 44 specific states designated by the IAEA.

As of now, eight of these 44 states, including the United States, have not ratified the treaty. This means that the US is not legally bound by the CTBT and retains the capability to conduct underground nuclear tests at the Nevada site, Abashidze concluded.