Russian President Putin has lifted the ban on nuclear weapons testing

Russian President Putin has revoked Russia’s agreement to ban nuclear weapons tests. He explained that his country should have the same opportunities as the nuclear power USA.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law withdrawing his country from the treaty banning nuclear weapons tests. Both Houses of Parliament had earlier approved the plan. Terminating the deal was a reaction to the “cynicism” of the United States, State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin insisted during a parliamentary hearing.

Putin previously justified withdrawing from the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) so that Russia would have the same options as the US, the second largest nuclear power. Unlike Russia, the United States never ratified the treaty. However, the US, like all other countries except North Korea, has maintained a test ban since the 1990s.

The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was passed in 1996 to prevent the further development of nuclear weapons. However, it has not yet come into force as not enough countries have ratified it. Nuclear powers France and Great Britain and 176 other countries have agreed to the treaty.

Putin has threatened this many times Use of nuclear weapons

Russia’s parliament ratified the deal in 2000 — six months after Putin was first elected Kremlin leader. Since launching his offensive in Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian president has repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons. In the summer of 2023, Moscow decommissioned tactical nuclear weapons in its ally Belarus. In early October, Putin said he was “not ready to say” whether Russia would resume its nuclear weapons tests.

Russia also withdrew from the New START agreement

The CTBT system in Vienna operates a global network of measuring stations that can detect nuclear tests using pressure waves and chemical and nuclear tracers. Russia wants to continue providing data from its own 32 stations. Moscow said Russia would only test nuclear weapons again if the US did the same.

In February, Russia also stopped participating in the New Start Agreement. A 2010 agreement with the United States to limit their respective nuclear stockpiles, which runs until 2026, is the last bilateral nuclear deal between Moscow and Washington.