Ukraine ratifies Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

Ukraine deposited its instrument of ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) with the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 23 February 2001. Ukraine is the seventieth State Signatory to ratify the Treaty and the thirty-first of the 44 States listed in Annex 2 to the Treaty whose ratification is necessary for the Treaty to enter into force. With the ratification of Ukraine, Eastern Europe becomes the first of the Treaty´s six geographical regions to have fully met the conditions for the Treaty to enter into force.

Ukraine hosts a primary seismological station of the global network of 321 monitoring stations and 16 laboratories - the International Monitoring System (IMS). Under the CTBT, the IMS will record data necessary to verify compliance with the Treaty using four complementary technologies. The stations will be capable of registering vibrations from a possible nuclear explosion underground, in the seas and in the air, as well as detecting radioactive debris released into the atmosphere.

The monitoring stations will transmit, via satellite, the data to the International Data Centre (IDC) within CTBTO Preparatory Commission in Vienna, where the data will be used to detect, locate and characterize events. These data and IDC products are made available to the States Signatories for final analysis.

The 70 States that have ratified the Treaty are: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kingdom of Cambodia, Kiribati, Lao People´s Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Maldives, Mali, Mexico, Micronesia (Federated States of), Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty bans any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion in any environment. Drafted at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 September 1996, the Treaty was opened for signature on 24 September 1996 at the United Nations in New York. For the CTBT to enter into force it needs to be ratified by the 44 States that formally participated in the 1996 Conference on Disarmament and that possess nuclear power or research reactors.

For further information on the CTBTO, please see www.ctbto.org or contact: 
Annika Thunborg
Chief, Public Information   
T    +43 1 26030-6375  
E    press@ctbto.org
M    +43 699 1459 6375