Russian military official meets with CTBTO Preparatory Commission executive secretary
MOSCOW. Oct 3 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov met on Thursday with Lassina Zerbo, the executive secretary of the Provisional Secretariat of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), to discuss the establishment of the treaty's verification mechanism.
Antonov and Zerbo discussed "practical matters related to the establishment of the treaty's verification mechanism, that is, the commissioning of Russian stations of the international monitoring system and on-site inspections. A high level of interaction has been recorded between the Russian Federation, particularly, the Russian Defense Ministry, and the Provisional Secretariat of the Preparatory Commission," the Defense Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
Antonov underscored Russia's principled position aimed at ensuring the treaty's soonest possible entry into force, it said.
The Russian deputy defense minister also commented that the Russian Federation invariably sees the treaty as a key element of a security system based on international law in the area of nuclear weapons limitation and nonproliferation.