Russia has announced that it is withdrawing its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), a global pact that bans all nuclear explosions for any purpose. The Kremlin said that the decision was made in response to the US withdrawal from the treaty in 2022 and that it was aimed at restoring the strategic balance between the two nuclear powers.
The CTBT was signed in 1996 by 184 countries, but it has not entered into force because eight key states, including the US and Russia, have not ratified it. The treaty prohibits any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion anywhere in the world and establishes a verification regime to monitor compliance.