MOSCOW (RIA Novosti): Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, during a meeting with the Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBT), Robert Floyd, said that Moscow considers the CTBT as a unique international legal instrument, which has no alternative.
“Lavrov stressed that the Russian Federation regards the CTBT as a unique international legal instrument, which has no alternative. The principled Russian line on promoting the early entry into force of the treaty has been confirmed,” the statement on the Foreign Ministry’s website says.
As noted, the parties emphasized “the importance of continuing work on the universalization of the CTBT in the interests of strengthening international peace and security.”
To date, the document has been signed by 185 countries and ratified by 170 of them. For the CTBT to enter into force, it must be ratified by 44 states listed in Annex 2. Of these, 36 states have ratified it, including three with nuclear weapons – Russia, Great Britain and France. Of the remaining eight, three did not sign the treaty – India, North Korea and Pakistan. Five more countries have signed but not ratified – the United States, China, Egypt, Israel and Iran.
