On October 30, 1961, the USSR tested a thermonuclear bomb in the Arctic with a yield of 58 megatons of TNT. Its destructive power proved to be thousands of times greater than the American "Little Boy" bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. Initially, there were plans to create and detonate a 100-megaton bomb, and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev declared: "Let the 100-megaton bomb hang over the capitalists like the Sword of Damocles!" However, due to the expected environmental impact, the yield was halved. Nonetheless, the explosion's consequences were astonishing. A massive mushroom cloud rose to a height of 67 kilometers, the shockwave was felt 1,000 kilometers from the epicenter, and in an abandoned village 400 kilometers away, trees were uprooted, roofs were torn off houses, and windows shattered. The shockwave circled the globe three times. The detonation of the most powerful thermonuclear bomb in history stunned the entire world. "This test shocked me in a way I had never experienced before," admitted Japan’s Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda. The major powers immediately began negotiations regarding the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. In 1963, the USSR, USA, and the United Kingdom signed the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, Outer Space, and Under Water. Today, 131 countries are parties to this treaty.