MOSCOW. Sept 26 (Interfax-AVN) - The United States' negative stance is slowing the enforcement of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Yakovenko said.
"We must acknowledge that we cannot speak of any significant advancement towards the enforcement of the CTBT. The future of the CTBT remains unclear, which surely arouses concern," Yakovenko told the foreign ministers of the CTBT's friends in New York. Yakovenko's statement was posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry's website on Thursday.
Moscow sees CTBT as an essential mechanism of guaranteeing the nonproliferation and limitation of nuclear armaments, the diplomat said. He also urged the foreign ministers to facilitate ratification of the treaty.