Putin revokes Russian ratification of global nuclear test ban treaty
Thu, November 2, 2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a Security Council meeting in Moscow
By Andrew Osborn
(Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a law withdrawing Russia's ratification of the global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests, a step condemned by the organisation which promotes adherence to the landmark arms control pact.
The move, though expected, is evidence of the deep chill between the United States and Russia, whose ties are at their lowest level since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis over the war in Ukraine and what Moscow casts as Washington's attempts to stymie the emergence of a new multipolar world order.
Washington expressed deep concern about Russia's decision and it was a step in the wrong direction.
"Russia's action will only serve to set back confidence in the international arms control regime," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
Moscow says its deratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) is merely designed to bring Russia into line with the United States, which signed but never ratified the treaty. Russia will not resume nuclear testing unless Washington does, say Russian diplomats.
Nor, they say, will the move change the nuclear posture of Russia, which has the world's largest nuclear arsenal, or the way it shares information about its nuclear activities as Moscow will remain a treaty signatory.
But some Western arms control experts are concerned that Russia may be inching towards a nuclear test to intimidate and evoke fear amid the Ukraine war.
Putin said on Oct. 5 that he was not ready to say whether or not Russia should resume nuclear testing after calls from some Russian security experts and lawmakers to test a nuclear bomb as a warning to the West.
Such a move, if it did happen, could usher in a new era of big power nuclear testing.
Robert Floyd, head of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban-Treaty Organization, whose job is to promote recognition of the treaty and build up its verification regime to ensure no nuclear tests go undetected, condemned Russia's step.
'DEEPLY REGRETTABLE'
"Today’s decision by the Russian Federation to revoke its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty is very disappointing and deeply regrettable," Floyd, who had tried to lobby senior Russian officials to get them to change their mind, said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The treaty established a global network of observation posts that can detect the sound, shockwaves or radioactive fallout from a nuclear explosion.
Post-Soviet Russia has not carried out a nuclear test. The Soviet Union last tested in 1990 and the United States in 1992. No country except North Korea has conducted a test involving a nuclear explosion this century.
Andrey Baklitskiy, senior researcher at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, has said Russia's deratification of the CTBT is part of a "slippery slope" towards resuming testing.
It is part of a disturbing trend in recent years that has seen arms control pacts scrapped or suspended, he said last month on X.
"We don’t know what steps will follow and when, but we know where this road ends. And we don’t want to go there," he said.
Putin's approval of the de-ratification law was posted on a government website which said the decision took immediate effect. Russia's parliament has already approved the step.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Gareth Jones and Grant McCool)
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a Security Council meeting in Moscow
By Andrew Osborn
(Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a law withdrawing Russia's ratification of the global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests, a step condemned by the organisation which promotes adherence to the landmark arms control pact.
The move, though expected, is evidence of the deep chill between the United States and Russia, whose ties are at their lowest level since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis over the war in Ukraine and what Moscow casts as Washington's attempts to stymie the emergence of a new multipolar world order.
Washington expressed deep concern about Russia's decision and it was a step in the wrong direction.
"Russia's action will only serve to set back confidence in the international arms control regime," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
Moscow says its deratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) is merely designed to bring Russia into line with the United States, which signed but never ratified the treaty. Russia will not resume nuclear testing unless Washington does, say Russian diplomats.
Nor, they say, will the move change the nuclear posture of Russia, which has the world's largest nuclear arsenal, or the way it shares information about its nuclear activities as Moscow will remain a treaty signatory.
But some Western arms control experts are concerned that Russia may be inching towards a nuclear test to intimidate and evoke fear amid the Ukraine war.
Putin said on Oct. 5 that he was not ready to say whether or not Russia should resume nuclear testing after calls from some Russian security experts and lawmakers to test a nuclear bomb as a warning to the West.
Such a move, if it did happen, could usher in a new era of big power nuclear testing.
Robert Floyd, head of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban-Treaty Organization, whose job is to promote recognition of the treaty and build up its verification regime to ensure no nuclear tests go undetected, condemned Russia's step.
'DEEPLY REGRETTABLE'
"Today’s decision by the Russian Federation to revoke its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty is very disappointing and deeply regrettable," Floyd, who had tried to lobby senior Russian officials to get them to change their mind, said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The treaty established a global network of observation posts that can detect the sound, shockwaves or radioactive fallout from a nuclear explosion.
Post-Soviet Russia has not carried out a nuclear test. The Soviet Union last tested in 1990 and the United States in 1992. No country except North Korea has conducted a test involving a nuclear explosion this century.
Andrey Baklitskiy, senior researcher at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, has said Russia's deratification of the CTBT is part of a "slippery slope" towards resuming testing.
It is part of a disturbing trend in recent years that has seen arms control pacts scrapped or suspended, he said last month on X.
"We don’t know what steps will follow and when, but we know where this road ends. And we don’t want to go there," he said.
Putin's approval of the de-ratification law was posted on a government website which said the decision took immediate effect. Russia's parliament has already approved the step.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Gareth Jones and Grant McCool)
Neil MacFarquhar
Thu, November 2, 2023
The Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, left, shaking hands with President Ronald Reagan at a conference in Geneva in November 1985.
In a landmark moment marking the closing chapters of the Cold War, Presidents Ronald Reagan of the United States and Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union concluded a 1985 summit in Geneva by issuing a joint statement declaring that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.”
That commitment paved the way for a series of historic agreements to reduce the nuclear arsenals of Russia and the United States, which together hold the vast majority of the world’s most destructive weapons, and to limit their spread globally.
Amid far more confrontational relations between Moscow and Washington, that architecture of disarmament and nonproliferation is now gradually being dismantled. On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law revoking Russia’s ratification of the global treaty banning nuclear testing.
In pushing through the de-ratification, Putin said that he wanted to “mirror” the American position. Although the United States signed the treaty in 1996, it has never been ratified.
Since the United States has never ratified the treaty, Russia’s move was more symbolic than practical. But it leaves only one significant nuclear weapons pact between Russia and the United States in place: the New START treaty.
What is the nuclear testing treaty?
The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, or CTBT, was an attempt under the umbrella of the United Nations to ban all nuclear tests. Adopted in 1996, it never came into effect because not enough key countries, including the United States, have ratified it. In Washington, efforts to ratify it have broken down repeatedly, largely along partisan lines, with Republican administrations arguing that despite a U.S. moratorium on new tests, future improvements or modifications in the nuclear arsenal might require them.
What does Russia’s decision mean?
Russia, in de-ratifying the treaty, removed another brick in the wall of formal arms control intended to limit proliferation. Although the move was mostly symbolic, it added to the recent sense of menace fostered by Putin and other hard-line Kremlin officials.
The hard-liners have been rattling the nuclear saber as a threat to others not to intervene in the Ukraine war, arguing that an atomic blast — in Ukraine, in Europe or maybe in a test over Siberia — was a sure means to resurrect Western fear of Russian might. At a conference this year, Putin mentioned that Moscow had successfully tested a new nuclear-powered cruise missile with global reach. Russia trumpeted it as part of a newly robust arsenal of strategic nuclear weapons, though analysts widely believed it to be far from operational. It is unclear, however, whether Russia will resume tests of nuclear warheads.
What nuclear treaties are still in effect?
The New START is now the only nuclear weapons deal between the United States and Russia. Although Putin announced in February that Russia was suspending its participation, Russia has thus far stuck to the treaty limits. Intended to institute verifiable limits on deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles, it caps the number of nuclear warheads on each side at 1,550. The treaty, which came into effect in 2011, expires in February 2026.
The Trump administration withdrew the United States from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, signed in 1987 and designed to eliminate an entire class of nuclear missiles, after accusing Russia of violating it. In addition, mutual inspections were suspended during the COVID pandemic and have never resumed. Both the disarmament objective and the verification process were considered groundbreaking.
In the wake of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, President George W. Bush withdrew the United States from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, saying that limits on homeland missile defenses were hindering the country from protecting itself against “terrorists” and “rogue states.”
The cornerstone global nuclear agreement, negotiated under the auspices of the United Nations, is the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, or NPT. Meant to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and technology, it went into effect in 1970 and was extended indefinitely.
A total of 191 countries have joined the treaty, although its reach remains imperfect. It does not restrict the original five nuclear states — the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain. Israel, Pakistan and India, which also have nuclear weapons, have never signed. Iran is a member, but North Korea withdrew. The spirit of the treaty — that even the original five nuclear states would make progress toward disarmament — has not been achieved.
c.2023 The New York Times Company
No comments:
Post a Comment