Moscow calls on the United States not to wait for a new administration to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on April 19, 2016.

“We understand that the CTBT is unlikely to be submitted for ratification to the U.S. Senate before Barack Obama’s presidential term expires. But it’s not the reason to sit idle and wait for the new administration to come in,” Ryabkov said during a conference on the occasion of the 20th anniversary since the CTBT’s initial signing. “We are convinced that if the United States ratifies the CTBT, it’s going to exert every effort to see it ratified by other countries,” the high-ranking diplomat said. Ryabkov noted considerable progress in monitoring activities under the CTBT. “Considerable progress has been made in the inspection activities envisaged by the CTBT. Not a single nuclear explosion will go unnoticed by CTBT inspectors,” the Russian diplomat said.