State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin announced on his Telegram channel the intention to discuss the withdrawal of ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) of 1996 at the next meeting of the State Duma Council. Russia ratified this document in 2000.
The reason for this step was yesterday's speech by President Vladimir Putin at the plenary session of the Valdai International Discussion Club related to the security of Russia and the testing of the latest models of weapons with a nuclear component.
Volodin noted that the president raised an "important issue" and the emergence of weapons such as "Burevestnik" and "Sarmat" is "important for ensuring the security of our country".
As for the CTBT, "today's challenges require new solutions" and the issue of withdrawing ratification of the treaty will be considered in the near future.
This is in line with the national interests of our state. And it will be a mirror response to the United States, which has not yet ratified the treaty.
What exactly did the Russian President say about nuclear tests?
Speaking at the plenary session of Valdai, Vladimir Putin was answering a question from one of the founders of the club, Sergei Karaganov, Honored Professor, Academic Supervisor of the Faculty of World Economy and World Politics of the Higher School of Economics, Honorary Chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy.
Karaganov was interested in whether Russia was going to change the doctrine of the use of nuclear weapons and the policy of its use in the current geopolitical situation.
In response, the head of state said that he sees no need to change the doctrine of the use of nuclear weapons. But the issue of Russia's return to nuclear tests can be discussed: the United States signed the CTBT, but did not ratify it, while Russia both signed the document and ratified it.
Therefore, the country is not currently conducting relevant tests of a special warhead for the new intercontinental missile "Burevestnik" with a nuclear installation and the new super-heavy missile "Sarmat."
I am not ready to say now whether we really need to conduct tests or not. But to behave in a mirror-like way in relations with the United States, I repeat once again, when the United States signed, but did not ratify, and we signed and ratified, - in principle, it is possible to behave in a mirror-like way with the same United States. But this is a question for the deputies of the State Duma. Theoretically, this ratification can be withdrawn. If we do this, it will be quite enough.
Political scientists have already begun to speak out on this issue. In particular, Associate Professor of the Department of International Security of the Faculty of World Politics of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov, Alexei Fenenko, in an interview with RIA Novosti, recalled that Russia has reserved the right to withdraw from the treaty if it threatens national security.
Fenenko also recalled that a number of nuclear powers, such as China, India, Pakistan, did not sign the CTBT. The countries simply made voluntary commitments to refrain from conducting nuclear tests and are fulfilling them.
