Russia says it has seen signs of US preparations to restart nuclear testing
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Russia said on Tuesday it had seen signs that the United States was making preparations at a site in Nevada to resume nuclear testing, but said Moscow would not restart its own testing programme unless Washington did.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov made the comments as the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, urgently studies how best to revoke Moscow’s own ratification of a landmark treaty banning nuclear tests.”The indications are that there is or was, at least until recently, (preparatory) work underway at the Nevada Testing Site,” the TASS state news agency cited Ryabkov as saying.”If they go down this (testing) path, then the position that was stated by the president of the Russian Federation will be triggered, that we will be forced to mirror this as well. This is when a completely different situation arises, but the responsibility for whether it will or won’t arise lies with Washington.”Russian lawmakers were given 10 days on Monday to study how best to revoke Moscow’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), after President Vladimir Putin held out the possibility of resuming such testing.
