Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov stated at a news conference that the United States' policy is undermining the international nuclear non-proliferation regime, News.Az reports citing TASS.
"The policy being pursued by Washington poses a significant challenge to global nuclear non-proliferation," he warned. "On the one hand, we see a clear weakening of control over nuclear weapons, largely due to the involvement of NATO states and other US allies in so-called joint nuclear missions and collective nuclear planning tasks," Ryabkov continued. "On the other hand, these same countries are exploiting the nuclear non-proliferation treaty - particularly its review process - to pursue political objectives that have no connection to nuclear non-proliferation."
In fact, according to the senior diplomat, "the Western group is trying to turn the non-proliferation treaty into a tool to exert pressure on undesirable states."
"The situation around the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty remains complicated," he pointed out. "The reason for this is the destructive stance of the United States."
"We have tolerated this imbalance for a long time, but it could not continue indefinitely, because Russia ratified the CTBT back in 2000. As a result, 23 years after that event, in November 2023, we revoked our ratification of the CTBT, thereby sending a political signal to the United States that it will not be able to remain in a privileged position," Ryabkov said.
