Russia and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

That the Parliament notes with grave concern that the Russian Duma has voted to revoke Russia’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which is the first international treaty adopted to ban all nuclear tests; understands that Russia nevertheless remains a signatory of the Treaty with the responsibility not to engage in any behaviour that would defeat the Treaty’s object and purpose; further understands that the Treaty has not yet entered into force because it has not been ratified by China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Pakistan or the United States; believes that, despite these difficulties, the Treaty has been highly successful in building international consensus against the testing of nuclear weapons; recognises what it sees as the immense human and environmental cost of past nuclear tests by the former Soviet Union; urges Russia to remain fully committed to the Treaty; calls on China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Pakistan and the United States to ratify the Treaty, and commends the work of disarmament groups, including those in the north east of Scotland, in striving towards a world free of nuclear weapons and of the enormous suffering and destruction that it believes are caused by nuclear tests.