The last few years were not a good time for arms control treaties. In 2023, Russia suspended its participation in New START and formally pulled out of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. Attempts to restart the US-Russian dialogue on strategic stability have failed because Russia firmly insists on linking any progress in arms control to a broader normalization of relations with the United States—which, given the continuing war in Ukraine, is a very distant prospect.
In another disturbing development that year, Russia officially withdrew its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in November, prompting concerns that this was a step toward the resumption of full-scale nuclear tests. The fact that it happened in the context of the war in Ukraine added to the tension, especially as some Russian propagandists and experts close to the government were advocating for some kind of a nuclear gesture that would demonstrate Russia’s resolve to curtail western support of Ukraine.
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Keywords: CTBT, China, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, Nevada Test Site, North Korea, Russia, arms control, nuclear weapons tests
Topics: Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons
