🗓️ Some 70 representatives of the diplomatic corps, military and expert community gathered in Namibia at the invitation of the country’s leadership and Dr.Robert Floyd, Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), to observe the Integrated Field Exercise (IFE) of the On-Site Inspection — a key element of the CTBT verification regime — in the friendly Erongo Region. 🇷🇺 The Russian delegation was represented by the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the State Atomic Energy Corporation «Rosatom». The high-level segment lasted two days, while around 100 experts from the Provisional Technical Secretariat (PTS) of the CTBTO Preparatory Commission are spending more than a month working in the harsh conditions of the Namibian desert: temperatures of +40 to +45°C, stony and rocky terrain, as well as considerable distances from any populated areas. These are ideal conditions to test equipment, working methods, as well as professionalism and coordination of the CTBTO team. The objective is to achieve the highest possible level of readiness for rapid deployment to conduct an On-Site Inspection, which will become possible once the CTBT enters into force. Only an On-Site Inspection — which, under the Treaty, is preceded by a multi-stage process of consultation and clarification — can reliably ascertain whether a nuclear test was conducted in violation of the CTBT. ⚛️ No nuclear tests have been conducted in Namibia. This is solely an exercise based on a simulated scenario designed to be as realistic as possible. It was the third Integrated Field Exercise in the history of the CTBTO Preparatory Commission; the previous one took place in Jordan in 2014. Operational readiness and preparations carried out over the past several years, as well as the conduct of the IFE in Namibia are overseen by the Russian national Mr.Oleg Rozhkov, Director of the On-Site Inspection Division of the PTS.