Russian State Duma speaker says first reading of draft bill to withdraw ratification of nuclear test ban treaty scheduled for next week

State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said that Russia’s State Duma has prepared a draft bill to withdraw Russia’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

According to him, all parties already support passage of the draft bill and it has already been discussed in the State Duma Council. The first reading of the bill is scheduled for next week, on October 17.

“We’ve been waiting for 23 years for Washington to ratify the agreement. What’s this? Double standards, deceit, and irresponsible behavior. You can’t call it anything else. In this situation, we have to be guided exclusively by the interests of our country’s citizens, our state,” the State Duma press service quotes Volodin as saying.

Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutsky said that Russia is not withdrawing from the treaty and that it remains a party to it, according to Interfax. Slutsky added that the second reading of the bill will be held on October 18 and the third reading on October 19.

The deputies did not say whether the bill has been introduced in the State Duma. Meduza couldn’t find it in the database of bills.

The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was adopted in 1996 by the U.N. General Assembly. Russia ratified the document, but the U.S. and China did not. The last time Russia and the U.S. conducted nuclear tests was in 1990 and 1992, respectively.