Russia remains committed to nuclear test ban - Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW, July 4. /TASS/. Russia remains committed to the ban on nuclear tests and continues to implement the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty despite the fact that the treaty has not come into force, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s press office said on Saturday commenting on the United States’ 2020 Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments (Compliance Report). The Foreign Ministry pointed out that "the US allegations that Russia allegedly violated the nuclear testing moratorium by conducting nuclear experiments inconsistent with the US ‘zero-yield’ standard are not expectedly substantiated by evidence." "Along with this, Americans admit that they know neither about the number of those experiments in 2019 nor about whether they were conducted or not. We underline that in accordance with its international commitments, Russia should not follow any ‘US standards’ in the nuclear testing field," the ministry added. "We officially confirm that Russia remains strictly committed to the nuclear testing moratorium and continues to implement the provisions of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty with regards to the nuclear testing ban, in spite of the fact that the treaty has not come into force," the ministry stressed. "Unlike the United States, we ratified it 20 years ago and have been implementing with success. Along with this, we proceed from the assumption that any disagreements on criteria for compliance with relevant commitments can and should be settled within the framework of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty after it comes into force," the statement says. "As long as the United States has not ratified this treaty, we think it counterproductive to discuss with that country’s representatives the issue of compliance with that nuclear testing ban," it emphasizes. The Foreign Ministry pointed out that "the insinuations seem to have been brought up so as to distract attention from the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty." The ministry noted that "the US placed the treaty on the verge of total collapse by renouncing its ratification." "Washington appears to be preparing the world that the voluntary nuclear testing moratorium, which is still in effect in the US, will be abandoned and, as a consequence, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty will be totally dismantled," the Foreign Ministry said. Apart from that, the Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized that "on absolutely false 'messages' are based the allegations about Russia’s alleged non-compliance with the Treaty on the Limitation of Underground Nuclear Weapon Tests (known as the Threshold Test Ban Treaty) signed by the Soviet Union and the United States in 1974. Under the treaty, the sides should inform each other about the nuclear tests.". Read more

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