This decision of Putin government will shake the world, the risk of nuclear attack will increase

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a law revoking Russia’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. The 1996 treaty outlaws all nuclear explosions, including live tests of nuclear weapons, although it never came into force because some major countries, including the United States and China, never ratified it. The West has accused Russia of reckless nuclear rhetoric since it launched its invasion of Ukraine last February.

Putin last week inspected ballistic missile exercises, which Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu described as a rehearsal for a massive retaliatory nuclear strike against an unknown enemy. Putin also said last month that he was “not ready to say” whether Russia would conduct a live nuclear test. A bill to repeal the treaty passed Russia’s parliament in a fast-track process last month. During a parliamentary hearing, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said that the move to revoke the treaty was a reaction to the United States’ skepticism and ambivalent attitude toward nuclear weapons.

Although it never came into force, the agreement was ratified by 178 countries, including nuclear powers France and Britain, and has symbolic value. Its supporters say it establishes an international norm against live tests of nuclear weapons, but critics say the agreement is likely unrealistic without the ratification of major nuclear powers. Russia’s parliament approved the agreement in June 2000, six months after Putin first became president.