We are sharing the press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia:
On 3 November, Estonian Ambassador Arti Hilpus presented his credentials to Robert Floyd, Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO).
Following the presentation, Ambassador Hilpus and Executive Secretary Floyd discussed technical cooperation between Estonia and the CTBTO, the role of the organisation’s International Monitoring System (IMS) in preventing and detecting nuclear tests, and the prospects for the treaty’s entry into force in the current geopolitical climate.
“Estonia supports international efforts aimed at bringing the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty into force,” said Hilpus. “We have consistently called on all states to sign and ratify the treaty.” The Ambassador emphasised that Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine also affects the work of international organisations such as the CTBTO. “Threatening the use of nuclear weapons is unacceptable, and such behaviour must not become the norm,” he stated, commending Executive Secretary Floyd for his effective leadership in fulfilling the CTBTO’s mandate and contributing to nuclear non-proliferation.
Ambassador Hilpus also highlighted the unique global network of monitoring stations established by the CTBTO, which collects seismological data and conducts measurements underwater and in the atmosphere. This network provides valuable environmental data for researchers worldwide. Thanks to Estonia’s membership in the CTBTO, Estonian scientists also have access to this data via the national data centre managed by the Estonian Environment Agency.
The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) prohibits nuclear weapon test explosions and all other nuclear explosions for both civilian and military purposes in all environments. The treaty was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 September 1996 and ratified by Estonia in 1999. It has not yet entered into force, as the conditions set out in Article XIV — requiring ratification by all states with nuclear reactors at the time of signing — have not been met. With the support of the organisation’s provisional secretariat, 90 percent of the planned network of 337 monitoring stations and laboratories has been completed over the past 30 years, spanning 89 countries. By combining seismological data with atmospheric and underwater measurements, the system can detect nuclear explosions anywhere in the world.
Arti Hilpus was born in 1972. He graduated in history from the University of Tartu and completed an international course at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy. In 1996, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Director of the Personnel Office, later serving as Director of the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy Division (1999–2001 and 2005–2006) and Director of the Security Policy Division (2006–2008). From 2001 to 2004, he worked as a diplomat at the Estonian Embassy in Berlin. Hilpus served as Ambassador to the Kingdom of Norway and the Republic of Iceland (2009–2012), and subsequently as Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia (2012–2015), to Russia (2015–2018), and to Latvia (2018–2022). Before taking up his current post, he was Director of the Arms Control Division in the Ministry’s NATO and Transatlantic Relations Department (2022–2025). Since autumn 2025, Hilpus has served as Estonia’s Ambassador to Austria and to the international organisations based in Vienna. He resides in Vienna.
