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Nuclear Treaty
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview broadcast Sunday that Russia has no choice but to take into account NATO's nuclear capabilities, in remarks justifying Russia's recent suspension of its participation in the New START treaty. As he has done repeatedly during the Ukraine war, Putin claimed that Russia faces an existential threat because, in his view, NATO members are seeking the country's strategic defeat. He said on Russian state TV that the suspension of New START stemmed from the need to ensure security, strategic stability for Russia. When all the leading NATO countries have declared their main goal as inflicting a strategic defeat on us (...) how can we ignore their nuclear capabilities in these conditions? Putin said. Putin's overarching goal in invading Ukraine a year ago was to reduce what he perceived as threats to Russia's security, and at times he has used that as justification for threats to use nuclear weapons in the conflict. Putin declared Tuesday
Russia late Friday blocked agreement on the final document of a four-week review of the UN treaty considered the cornerstone of nuclear disarmament which criticized its military takeover of Europe's largest nuclear plant soon after Russian troops invaded Ukraine, an act that has raised fears of a nuclear accident. Igor Vishnevetsky, deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Department, told the delayed final meeting of the conference reviewing the 50-year-old Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty that "unfortunately there is no consensus on this document." He insisted that many countries not just Russia didn't agree with "a whole host of issues" in the 36-page last draft. The document needed approval by all 191 countries that are parties to the treaty aimed at curbing the spread of nuclear weapons and ultimately achieving a world without them. Argentine Ambassador Gustavo Zlauvinen, president of the conference, said the final draft represented
As 191 countries approach Friday's end to a four-week conference to review the landmark U.N. treaty aimed at curbing the spread of nuclear weapons, Russia's invasion of Ukraine and takeover of Europe's largest nuclear power plant and rivalries between the West and China were posing key obstacles to agreement on a final document. Argentine Ambassador Gustavo Zlauvinen, president of the conference reviewing the 50-year-old Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which is considered the cornerstone of nuclear disarmament, circulated a 35-page draft final document on Thursday. After listening to objections from countries at a closed-door session, diplomats said he was planning to revise the document for a final closed-door discussion Friday morning, ahead of an open meeting in the afternoon to end the conference. Any document must be approved by all parties to the treaty and it's uncertain whether an agreement will be reached before the conference ends. There is a possibility that only a brief
A coronavirus surge has upended plans to hold a major nuclear treaty conference at the United Nations, with participants agreeing Thursday to postpone the meeting just days before its scheduled start. After nearly two years of pandemic delays, delegations from around the world had been scheduled due to converge on U.N. headquarters Tuesday to take stock of the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty, a pillar of nuclear arms control. But organisers are now penciling in an August 1 start date for the already long-delayed conference, according to an email Thursday from the U.N. disarmament office to entities involved. An inquiry was sent Thursday evening to the conference's leader, Gustavo Zlauvinen. The treaty is the world's most widely ratified nuclear arms control agreement, with 191 participating countries. Nations without atomic weapons committed not to acquire them and to allow verification that nuclear energy programs weren't morphing into weaponry. Countries that had nuclear weapons wh