Russia's parliament completed the passage of a law on Wednesday withdrawing ratification of the global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests, evidence of the deep chill in relations with the United States as Moscow pursues its war in Ukraine, Reuters reports.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia was not prepared to resume discussing nuclear issues with the U.S. unless Washington dropped its "hostile" policy.
Putin had requested the change to "mirror" the position of the United States, which signed the CTBT in 1996 but never ratified it.
Though it has never formally come into force, the CTBT has made nuclear testing a taboo - no country except North Korea has conducted a test involving a nuclear explosion this century.
CNN published satellite images last month showing that Russia, the United States and China have all expanded their nuclear test sites in recent years.
Speaking to Russian lawmakers before Wednesday's vote, deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said the Nevada blast was "undoubtedly a political signal".
"As our president said, we must be on alert, and if the United States moves towards the start of nuclear tests, we will have to respond here in the same way," he said.
Russia says its monitoring stations will keep supplying data to the global network that detects nuclear blasts.
