Russia has recently completed the process of ratifying a protocol of the treaty on creation of a nuclear-free zone in Central Asia, Avesta.tj reported citing Mikhail Ulyanov, the director of the Russian foreign ministry's non-proliferation and arms control department, on Apr. 28.
The RIA Novosti news agency quoted Ulyanov as saying that Russia hopes that soon it will be possible to reach signing of a protocol to the treaty on a zone in the South East Asia that would be free of nuclear weapons.
In 2006, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan signed an agreement on the establishment of a nuclear-free zone. The agreement has been is effect since 2009.
The protocol to the said treaty was signed in 2014 by five nuclear powers - Russia, China, the US, France and the UK.
They pledged not to use or threaten of using nuclear weapons against the states in the Central Asia.
Last week, the law on the protocol's ratification was signed by Russia's President Vladimir Putin.
The US President Barack Obama sent on Apr. 27 the treaty's protocol to the senate for ratification, said the report.