Russia’s parliament took the first step on Tuesday towards revoking ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and its top lawmaker hinted it might go further by abandoning the pact altogether.
Parliament’s lower house, the Duma, voted by 412 to zero, with no abstentions, to approve the withdrawal of the ratification in the first of three readings.
Russia says the aim is to restore parity with the United States, which has signed but never ratified the 1996 treaty, and that it will not resume testing unless Washington does.
But arms control experts are concerned that Russia may be inching towards a test that would be perceived as a threatening signal by the West at a time of heightened confrontation over Russia’s war in Ukraine.
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The difference between Russians and Americans has always been that we have used them before, for no reason (Nagasaki) and many presidents since then would love to have a go. Trump wanted to nuke some bad weather, once.
They believe it is all a head game, so they’re good at the game aspect of it. But they are atheists, and so fall short in the “crazy enough to really do it” side of things. Most of us believe in an afterlife, much to my chagrin; in pure game theory terms for MAD, that’s an edge.