Vladimir Putin signs Russia’s exit from the treaty banning nuclear tests

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed this Thursday, November 2, the law on the revocation of the ratification of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (Ticen), against a backdrop of conflict in Ukraine and crisis with the West.

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty was opened for signature in 1996, but it never entered into force because it was not ratified – a necessary step for its entry into force – by a sufficient number of States, among the 44 countries which held nuclear installations at the time of its creation.

At the beginning of October, Vladimir Putin announced that his country could revoke the ratification of Ticen in response to the United States which never ratified it.

“I am not ready to say whether or not we should resume testing,” he added, while praising the development of new high-powered missiles that can carry nuclear warheads.

“The promulgation of the Russian law is very disappointing and deeply regrettable”, reacted in a press release Robert Floyd, executive secretary of the UN organization responsible for the treaty.