UN Secretary-General urges ratification of nuclear test ban, calls for CTBT entry into force

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged all nuclear-armed states to maintain their existing testing moratoriums and to formalise a global ban on nuclear explosions.

“Nuclear tests destroy trust, fuel nuclear arms races, and betray every community still living in the shadow of past nuclear test legacies,” Guterres wrote on the social media platform X on Friday (28/8).

Guterres urged countries to bring the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) into force without delay, describing the multilateral agreement as one that aims to prohibit all forms of nuclear explosions while demanding a renewed commitment to ending such activity.

The appeal came following Russia’s announcement of a test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

The Russian Defence Ministry reported that the mobile solid-fuel missile was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, a military spaceport in the northwestern Arkhangelsk region, and reached its designated target at the Kura training range in Kamchatka in the Far East.

Moscow confirmed that the launch was intended to verify the “tactical, technical and flight characteristics of the missile system.”

Although the CTBT was adopted in 1996 to establish a legally binding global ban on all nuclear test explosions, the treaty has yet to formally enter into force because a number of key states have not ratified it.

The treaty’s activation still depends on ratification by all “Annex 2” states — countries that possessed nuclear technology at the time the treaty was negotiated.

Nine countries, including the United States, Russia, China, Iran, Israel, Egypt, India, Pakistan and North Korea, have yet to meet that requirement.

As of 2026, 188 countries have signed the treaty and 179 have ratified it.