Russian parliament votes to rip up nuclear treaty as US relations continue to spiral

Russian Parliament voted unanimously on Wednesday to withdraw from a global nuclear treaty in the latest show of defiance toward the United States, according to multiple reports.

The upper chamber of Russia’s parliament voted 156-0 to revoke ratification of a global nuclear test ban, known as the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which Russia has abided by since 2000, according to Reuters. The decision to scrap the treaty is a move to “mirror” the U.S., which signed the CTBT in 1996 but never ratified it and was, therefore, never obligated to abide by it.

The bill to withdraw from the CTBT will now go to Russian President Vladimir Putin for signing, according to Reuters. Putin had suggested earlier in October that Russia could “theoretically” withdraw from the treaty to reflect the U.S.’ position on testing.

Moscow says it will not resume nuclear testing unless the U.S. does it first, but larger concerns surround whether Russia will start testing in an effort to intimidate the West from protecting Ukraine, the Associated Press reported.

The National Nuclear Security Administration said on Oct. 18 that it had conducted a “subsurface chemical explosion” at a Nevada testing site to “detect low-yield nuclear explosions around the world,” according to a press release. Prior to Wednesday’s vote in Parliament, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the Nevada test was “undoubtedly a political signal,” Reuters reported.

“As our president said, we must be on alert, and if the United States moves towards the start of nuclear tests, we will have to respond here in the same way,” Ryabkov said Wednesday.

Ryabkov said that Moscow will not further engage in nuclear talks with the U.S. unless it changes its “hostile” policy toward Russia, the AP reported.

“We aren’t ready for it, because the return to a dialogue on strategic stability… as it was conducted in the past is impossible until the U.S. revises its deeply hostile policy course in relation to Russia,” Ryabkov told reporters on Wednesday.

The Russian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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