| Submit your comments on this article |
| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| 'US cynicism is captivating.' Why the Russian Federation is leaving the nuclear testing treaty |
| 2023-10-19 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Mikhail Zakharov [REGNUM] The State Duma in the first reading and unanimously approved the bill, which deals with the withdrawal of ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). If the document is accepted, then Russia will de facto leave this international agreement, which our country signed back in 1996 (immediately after the adoption of the treaty at the UN General Assembly) and ratified in 2000. The bill passes through the State Duma very quickly: the first reading took place on October 17, the second is scheduled for the 18th, and the third on the 19th. WHAT IS THE CTBT AND WHY DOESN'T IT WORK? The treaty, as its name suggests, prohibits nuclear testing for military or peaceful purposes. Currently, the document has signatures of 187 out of 193 UN member countries. The agreement was ratified, that is, it was given legal force by 178 states of the world. The CTBT has a rather long history, dating back to the beginning of the Cold War. In the 1950s, the atomic race between the United States and the Soviet Union forced scientists and the public to think about the consequences of building up nuclear arsenals and carrying out explosions. In 1958, negotiations began in Switzerland between the USSR, the USA and Great Britain. In 1963, these states in Moscow signed the Treaty Banning Tests of Atomic Weapons in Three Environments: the Atmosphere, Outer Space and Underwater. The Moscow Treaty did not limit underground explosions, which is why in 1996, at a session of the UN General Assembly, a document was adopted banning “any test explosion of nuclear weapons and any other nuclear explosion.” It would seem that this step resolved one of the key issues of global security. On paper, everything looks smooth: countries are imbued with the degree of danger of the “non-peaceful atom” and do not want to test weapons that could lead the planet to a third (and probably the last in the history of mankind) world war. But there are nuances that make the chances of a real “comprehensive ban” look very modest. Due to the political motives of individual countries, the CTBT never became a functioning mechanism. The CTBT does not include India, North Korea and Pakistan (which have not signed the treaty), as well as the United States, China, Egypt, Israel and Iran (which have not ratified the CTBT). The main thing: Washington, which has a huge nuclear arsenal, did not want to ratify the CTBT for almost 30 years from the moment it was opened for signature and the prospects that the US Congress would approve the Treaty were not visible . Vladimir Putin recently recalled this at a meeting of the Valdai Club. Then the president noted that Moscow could behave in the opposite direction and withdraw its ratification. Putin's proposal was supported by legislators. THE UNITED STATES DEMANDS FROM OTHERS WHAT IT DOES NOT DO ITSELF. Washington is calling on Moscow not to withdraw ratification of the CTBT, as this would allegedly “ jeopardize the global norm against nuclear testing .” This was stated by the US Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament, Bruce Turner . Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin also spoke about Washington's attempts to interfere. At the plenary session of the chamber, he said that the United States, represented by its permanent representative to the UN, appealed to Russian deputies not to pass the bill. "Increases nuclear rhetoric." What Western media noticed in Putin's speech “Here, of course, we are captivated by the cynicism of the Americans, who say that they support the CTBT in every possible way, but at the same time do not even try to ratify it or do anything to make it come into force,” comments a researcher at the Center for International Relations to IA Regnum. security IMEMO RAS Dmitry Stefanovich. By not ratifying the treaty, the United States is unceremoniously dictating to its full participants how the CTBT should be implemented. At the same time, they require other states to create certain conditions for Washington’s possible full accession to the treaty. It is clear that this could not continue indefinitely, RIA Novosti quotes the words of Vladimir Ermakov, director of the Foreign Ministry’s department for nonproliferation and arms control. WHAT WILL A DECISION ON THE CTBT GIVE RUSSIA? Returning from the status of ratifiers to the status of “simply signatories” does not mean that Russia will immediately conduct nuclear tests. Their resumption is possible only in the event of similar steps by the United States, the Russian Foreign Ministry explained. The Americans are not giving up the idea of conducting full-fledged atomic maneuvers as part of the modernization of their arsenal. Russia has recorded signs of preparation for testing at the Nevada test site, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on October 10. Current events are unfolding against the backdrop of talk in US military-political circles that nuclear weapons are not that dangerous, that tactical nuclear weapons can be used, and Russia does not fully possess such weapons. “Information is launched into the mass consciousness that we do not have these weapons or we do not know how to use them ,” Nikolai Kostikin , an expert at the Bureau of Military-Political Analysis , told IA Regnum . The decision on the CTBT is intended to cool down hotheads, the interlocutor believes. “This is a demonstration that, yes, things have not yet come to nuclear tests, but nevertheless this is perceived as a signal that if necessary, we will test these weapons. And, accordingly, if there is a threat to Russia’s sovereignty, then it will not be good for anyone,” notes Kostikin. The decision on the CTBT will help balance Russia’s status in relation to the United States: this “ political decision will completely balance the approaches in the international political sphere with the Americans,” Stefanovich points out. “Washington must finally understand that hegemony on their part does not lead to anything good... The Russian Federation will do everything to protect its citizens and so that global strategic parity is preserved,” Speaker Volodin wrote in his Telegram channel, calling on the United States to equal dialogue. WHAT IS THE STATE OF THE NUCLEAR DETERRENCE SYSTEM? In fact, the Americans continue to pursue a policy of dismantling the system of nuclear restrictions that was built during the Cold War and the 1990s. This year, due to the position of Washington and its NATO allies, Russia was forced to withdraw from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) and suspend participation in the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START). The North Atlantic Alliance limited itself to rhetorical regrets in connection with Moscow's decisions, but did not revise its policy. “In any case, we have not yet seen any signs of the United States’ readiness to reconsider its extremely hostile course of directly undermining our security, which ultimately forced us to suspend the implementation of the START Treaty,” Vladimir Ermakov noted then. By and large, the situation with arms control is in a very sad state, Stefanovic says. “The main criterion for deterrence remains, in fact, the presence of nuclear weapons and the readiness to use them by delivery means,” the expert notes. In terms of nuclear weapons, one of the few channels of interaction between countries remains work in the “nuclear five” (an informal association of states that have nuclear weapons: Russia, China, Great Britain, the United States and France) and the work of Russia and the United States within the framework of notification of ballistic missile launches and submarine missiles. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #1 Well, there is the Non-proliferation Treaty we could drop too. I'm sure some countries would like some nukes right now. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2023-10-19 11:41 |