The upper house, the Federation Council, approved the law by 156 votes to zero after the lower house, the Duma, had also passed it unanimously. It will now go to President Vladimir Putin for signing.

Putin urged lawmakers earlier this month to make the change in order to “mirror” the position of the US, which signed but never ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Russia says it will not resume nuclear testing unless Washington does, but arms control experts are concerned it may be inching towards a test that the West would perceive as a threatening escalation in the context of the Ukraine war.

Ukraine has accused Russia of stepping up its “nuclear blackmail”.

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.

Arms control experts say a test by either Russia or the US could trigger a new arms race at a moment of acute international tension, with wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East. They say if one country tested, the other would likely do the same and others such as China, India, and Pakistan could follow.

CNN published satellite images last month showing Russia, the US, and China have all built new facilities at their nuclear test sites in recent years.

The US energy department said last week it conducted a chemical explosion at its nuclear test site in Nevada “to improve the US’ ability to detect low-yield nuclear explosions around the world”.

Speaking to Russian lawmakers before today’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.