Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law Russia's withdrawal from the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. Meanwhile, the Kremlin denied the conflict had come to a stalemate.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has formally lifted Russia's ban on nuclear weapons testing.
Russia officially launched its process of withdrawal from the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) last month, pointing out that the United States has signed but not ratified the agreement.
Despite not having ratified the treaty, Washington has in practice complied with the test ban since the 1990s.
Putin has said Russia's withdrawal from the treaty would "mirror" the US position.
In addition to the US, the treaty has not been ratified by China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Israel, Iran and Egypt.
The CTBT was adopted in 1996 to limit the further development of nuclear weapons.
Putin has claimed that some experts argue for the necessity of conducting nuclear tests but said that he had not formed an opinion on the issue.
However, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said last month that it will only test nuclear weapons again if the US does the same.
Source: DW
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