Severodvinsk Accident Not Related To Banned Nuclear Tests - Acting Envoy In Vienna

VIENNA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th August, 2019) The accident at a naval testing range in the Arkhangelsk region is not related to nuclear tests banned under the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), Alexey Karpov, Russia's acting permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, said Monday.

The accident involving the testing of a liquid-propellant missile engine occurred on August 8. Russian State Nuclear Corporation Rosatom said the explosion and fire on an off-shore platform killed five and injured three of its employees. The regional unit of the Ministry of Emergencies reported a few days after the explosion that the background radiation in the region was normal, judging by the samples of soil, water and sand.

"The tests conducted at the military testing range on August 8 near Severodvinsk were related to the development of weapons, which we were forced to start developing as a retaliatory measure in connection with the US unilateral withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty [ABM Treaty] in 2002," Karpov said during the 53rd session of the working group of the Preparatory Commission of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO).

"The occurred nuclear accident has nothing to do with nuclear testing and does not relate to the subject of the CTBT," Karpov stressed.