Putin has held out the possibility that Russia could resume nuclear testing for the first time in more than three decades
Vladimir Putin recently said Russia’s nuclear doctrine - did not need updating but he was not yet ready to say whether Moscow needed to resume nuclear tests. Photograph: Getty ImagesRussia’s Duma council, in which leaders of parliament’s lower house discuss legislative moves, will discuss the country’s possible withdrawal from the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty today.
Mr Putin said Russia could look at revoking ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty as the United States had signed, but not ratified, it.Ukraine war: Twelve injured, including baby, in Russian attack on Kherson, says governorThat prompted chair of the Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, to say he would discuss the matter at the next meeting of Russia’s Duma Council.
By revoking the ratification, Russia is sending the United States a warning that Moscow can fundamentally change the assumptions of post-Cold War nuclear planning.