Putin Signs Law Revoking Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Thursday nullifying Russia's ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), amidst the ongoing war in Ukraine and the crisis with the West.

The treaty, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1996, aims to halt all nuclear tests, although its implementation has been hindered due to non-participation from major nuclear nations including the United States and China.

Previously in October, Putin remained reticent on whether Russia would conduct live nuclear tests, but the escalation of conflict in Ukraine since February 2022 has seen the Russian leader adopt a more aggressive stance on nuclear weaponry, deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Russia's closest ally, during the summer of 2023.

The Russian lower house, Duma, adopted the law in mid-October, followed by unanimous approval from the Federation Council, the upper house, at the month's end.

Duma's Chairman, Vyacheslav Volodin, stated that the vote was a response to the "vile stance of the United States concerning its global security commitments".

In mid-October, Russia conducted ballistic missile tests to prepare its forces for a "massive nuclear strike" in retaliation to a similar adversarial assault.

Russian nuclear doctrine stipulates a purely "defensive use" of nuclear weaponry in the event of an attack with weapons of mass destruction on Russia or in case of conventional weaponry aggression threatening the state's very existence.

Furthermore, Russia suspended its participation in the New START nuclear disarmament treaty with the United States, the last bilateral agreement between Moscow and Washington, back in February of this year.