Russia's lower house of parliament voted on Wednesday to withdraw Moscow from the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), a step toward abandoning a landmark agreement banning such tests.
As a result of MPs' vote to revoke their country's ratification of this treaty, the bill will be submitted to parliament for a vote before being submitted to President Vladimir Putin for ratification and making it law.
The Council passed the vote by 42 votes in favour, with no abstentions.
State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin reported that Russia had canceled ratification of the treaty because of the U.S. irresponsible attitude to global security and its double standards.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said last week that Moscow would resume nuclear tests only if Washington did so.
Putin announced earlier in October that he was not prepared to say whether Russia would conduct nuclear tests.
Russia also suspended its participation in the New START treaty earlier this year, its last bilateral nuclear weapons treaty with the United States.
Putin has repeatedly touched on his country's nuclear capabilities and his willingness to resort to them if Moscow has been threatened since the beginning of the Ukrainian war in February 2022.