Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a training to test the strategic deterrence forces via a video link in Moscow, Russia, 25 October 2023. The Russian military conducted training with the forces and means of the ground, sea and air components of the nuclear deterrent forces. 'During the training, practical launches of ballistic and cruise missiles took place. The Yars intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from the Plesetsk state test cosmodrome at the Kura test site in Kamchatka,' the Kremlin said. According to the message, from the Barents Sea from a nuclear missile submarine The strategic cruiser Tula launched the Sineva ballistic missile. EPA-EFE/GAVRIIL GRIGOROV / SPUTNIK / KREMLIN POOL Russia says that it will not resume testing unless Washington does and that its de-ratification does not change its nuclear posture or the way it shares information about its nuclear activities.
Washington had signed but never ratified the 1996 treaty and Putin had said he wanted Russia, which had signed and ratified the pact, to adopt the same stance on the treaty as the United States.
Some Western arms control experts are concerned that Russia may be inching towards a test to intimidate and evoke fear amid the Ukraine war, an idea Russian officials have played down.
Putin said on Oct. 5 that he was not ready to say whether or not Russia should resume nuclear testing after calls from some Russian security experts and lawmakers to test a nuclear bomb as a warning to the West.
Such a move, if it did happen, could usher in a new era of big power nuclear testing, Western experts fear.
Putin's approval of the de-ratification law was posted on a government website which said the decision took immediate effect.
Both houses of Russia's parliament have already approved the step.
Post-Soviet Russia has never carried out a nuclear test. The Soviet Union last tested in 1990 and the United States in 1992.
(Reporting by ReutersWriting by Andrew Osborn Editing by Guy Faulconbridge)