MOSCOW: In a significant development, Russia has indicated its intention to move swiftly toward revoking its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
This announcement follows President Vladimir Putin’s recent suggestion that Russia might consider resuming nuclear testing, raising concerns about global stability.
Resuming nuclear tests by Russia, the United States, or both would have profound destabilizing consequences, particularly at a time when tensions between these two nuclear-armed nations have reached levels not seen since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
While President Putin stated that Russia’s nuclear doctrine did not require updating, he stopped short of confirming whether nuclear tests were necessary at this juncture.
The key factor behind Russia’s consideration of revoking ratification is that the United States, although a signatory, has not ratified the CTBT. This asymmetry has prompted Russia to reevaluate its own commitment to the treaty.
Following President Putin’s remarks, Vyacheslav Volodin, a prominent Russian lawmaker, swiftly indicated that the legislative bodies would discuss the possibility of revoking Russia’s ratification of the CTBT. Volodin expressed concerns about the changing global landscape and alleged hostility from Washington and Brussels toward Russia.
The CTBT, which prohibits nuclear explosions by all signatories, is a critical international agreement aimed at curbing the development and testing of nuclear weapons.
Russia, inheriting the Soviet Union’s nuclear arsenal, possesses the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear warheads. In the five decades leading up to the 1996 CTBT, over 2,000 nuclear tests were conducted worldwide, with the United States conducting 1,032 tests and the Soviet Union conducting 715, as reported by the United Nations.
Both the Soviet Union and the United States last conducted nuclear tests in the early 1990s, and since the CTBT’s adoption, only ten nuclear tests have been carried out by various countries, including India, Pakistan, and North Korea.
President Putin’s recent assertion of Russia’s successful testing of the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile has raised further concerns. The Burevestnik, often referred to as the “storm petrel,” is a low-flying cruise missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. Its nuclear-powered design gives it a unique intercontinental-range capability, according to a 2020 report by the United States Air Force’s National Air and Space Intelligence Centre.
The unfolding developments underscore the complex dynamics and heightened tensions in the realm of nuclear arms control and non-proliferation. The path forward remains uncertain, with potential consequences for global security and stability.
