Sept. 24, is the 30th anniversary of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova issued a statement taking stock of the situation surrounding the CTBT. “Despite the fact that the Treaty has been ratified by 179 of the 188 states that had signed it, the prospects for the CTBT entering into force remain just as uncertain due to the position of a number of countries, primarily the United States, which was one of the Treaty’s initiators, but has nevertheless failed over the decades to take effective steps towards ratifying it. The US leadership’s claim that the draft law to that effect would not pass Congress does not stand up to scrutiny. Notably, Capitol Hill adopts straight away legislation that the US political establishment has a vested interest in.” The U.S. Senate voted 51-48 on the CTBT in October of 1999, well short of the two-thirds vote needed for ratification.

President Trump’s October 29, 2025 directive to begin preparations for nuclear testing, rather than being empty rhetoric, “is effectively a direct threat to the moratorium that has helped prevent the world from sliding into a new round of the nuclear arms race,” Zakharova said. “The Americans’ attempts to accuse other countries of actions that are allegedly incompatible with the treaty are completely unfounded. Every time we hear Washington make such statements, we know that the Americans once again intend to walk away from their international commitments.”

She noted that in 2023, Russia withdrew its ratification of gthe CTBT, “thus restoring parity with the United States in terms of international legal commitments in this area.”