Russian Parliament Revokes Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

Facts

• The upper house of Russia's parliament voted unanimously on Wednesday to revoke Moscow's ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. One provision of the CTBT — first signed in New York in 1996 — has been renamed from 'On the Ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty' to 'On the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.'¹
• Moscow announced on Oct. 6 that it would withdraw from the treaty, which bans both the US and Russia from testing nuclear bombs. The State Duma passed the revocation in an accelerated vote last week and Pres. Putin has said he will sign it into law. Moscow has stated it will still follow the rules of the law as long as Washington continues to do so.²
• In response, the US State Dept. said that such a move 'by any state party needlessly endangers the global norm against nuclear explosive testing,' adding that Russia shouldn't be 'wielding arms control and irresponsible nuclear rhetoric in a failing attempt to coerce other states.' The two rival powers are now only left with the New START treaty, which mandates inspections of each other's nuclear arsenals, though Putin suspended it in March, and it's set to expire in 2026.²
• The news comes as Russian forces continued to attack the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka on Tuesday, switching from ground invasions to airstrikes due to heavy losses. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to maintain military pressure on Crimea, stating that 'we have not yet gained full fire control over Crimea and surrounding waters, but we will.'³
• Elsewhere, at least six people were killed and 16 injured when a Russian missile struck a postal terminal in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine. According to the Kharkiv prosecutor's office, two missiles were also launched toward 'a building belonging to a logistics company located in the Kharkiv region.'⁴
• This followed a secret delivery of American long-range ATACMS missiles over the past week, which were used Tuesday as part of a bombardment of airfields in occupied Berdiansk on the coast of the Azov Sea and in Luhansk in eastern Ukraine. The strikes destroyed Russian helicopters and a munitions depot.⁵

Sources: ¹TASS, ²Al Jazeera, ³The Guardian, ⁴CNN (a) and ⁵CNN (b).

Narratives

• Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by RT International. Although Russia has withdrawn from the CTBT, it has made a decades-long promise not to test nuclear missiles. The irony of Washington scolding Moscow for its revocation could not be more rich given that Russia is the only one of the two that ratified the treaty, while Western countries have failed to ratify it themselves over 23 years.
• Anti-Russia narrative, as provided by VOA. While Russia says it will continue to abide by the treaty, Putin's series of alarming decisions surrounding nuclear arms should raise some eyebrows. Following his suspension of the New START treaty, the Russian leader has purposely stripped his government of more international safeguards — likely an attempt to deter European nations from supporting Ukraine. Either way, Russia has single handedly inched the world closer to another nuclear arms race, and the world should be very cautious.

Predictions