United Nations: Russia, as a responsible party to and one of the depositaries of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), strictly abides by the letter and spirit of the treaty, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an address to the 11th NPT Review Conference.
“We believe that amid the current complex international situation, additional multilateral efforts are required to create conditions for further progress on the path to building a nuclear-weapon-free world, while strictly upholding the principle of not compromising the security of any party,” Putin said in a statement read out by Andrey Ivanovich Belousov, ambassador-at-large of the Russian Foreign Ministry, at the conference at the UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday (local time).
Russia, as a leader in nuclear energy, stands ready to develop cooperation in this field with interested NPT parties, the statement noted.
Moscow holds that countries conscientiously fulfilling their NPT obligations are entitled to peaceful nuclear energy access without undue restrictions, reports Xinhua, quoting the Russian President’s statement.
Putin stressed that greater efforts are needed to create conditions for advancing toward a world free of nuclear weapons amid a challenging global security environment.
Russia expects the conference to be productive and contribute to the global nuclear non-proliferation regime, the statement added.
The 11th NPT Review Conference started on Monday and will last until May 22.
Earlier, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for renewed efforts to “bring life” into the Treaty on the NPT.
Across the decades, the international community developed a web of instruments to prevent the use, proliferation and testing of nuclear weapons, and achieve their total elimination, with the NPT as the bedrock of those efforts, Guterres said at the 11th Review Conference of the Parties to the NPT.
Warning that the treaty has been eroding, commitments remain unfulfilled, trust and credibility are wearing thin, and the drivers of proliferation are accelerating, Guterres said: “This conference provides a timely opportunity to stand together and safeguard humanity from the grave threat of nuclear annihilation.”
Noting that “a state of collective amnesia has taken hold” and “nuclear sabres rattle once more,” the UN chief said that for the first time in decades, the number of nuclear warheads is “on the rise” and nuclear testing is “back on the table.”
“We need to breathe life into the treaty once more,” he stressed, urging countries to keep their promises under the NPT.
“It’s time to re-commit to disarmament and non-proliferation as the only true path to peace, by reinforcing the norm against nuclear testing, by strengthening the safeguards system and the IAEA’s (International Atomic Energy Agency) oversight, and by agreeing (on) the measures needed to prevent nuclear war,” he said.
The UN chief underlined that the nuclear threat is compounded by new dangers from rapidly evolving technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing, noting that the treaty must grapple with the nexus between nuclear weapons and new technologies.
“With your support and engagement, the treaty can remain an active and strong foundation for a world free of nuclear weapons in our fast-moving age,” said the secretary-general.
“So before it’s too late: let’s break the collective amnesia around nuclear weapons. Let’s renew faith in what we can achieve when we stand as one. Let’s act with urgency to lift this cloud hanging over humanity,” he said.
(IANS)
