Moscow: Ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) by the US will speed up the document`s entry into force, the speaker of the Russian Parliament`s upper house has said.
"Naturally, we are worried by the lack of progress in the ratification of the CTBT. We are convinced that the treaty`s ratification by the US would significantly speed up the process of the document coming into force," Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said at a nuclear conference in Kazakh capital Astana.
She said Russia`s proposal on a treaty to ban the deployment of weapons in space was "being blocked by certain Western states".
Adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1996, the CTBT is yet to come into force. It has been signed by 183 and ratified by 157 countries, but major nuclear powers either refused to sign (India) or failed to ratify (US and China).
The US Senate rejected the treaty in 1999.
In 2006, the UN General Assembly ratified a resolution supporting the CTBT entry into force.
Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Ellen Tauscher said in February the treaty`s ratification remains one of the priorities of US foreign policy.
IANS
