Russia on Friday blocked the adoption of a joint declaration following a four-week UN conference on nuclear disarmament treaties, and Moscow denounced what it said was the “political” aspect of the document.
Reviewed every five years by 191 signatories, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) aims to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, promote complete disarmament, and promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. increase.
Countries gathered at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from August 1 to engage in a month of negotiations, including a final session that was postponed by several hours on Friday.
Ultimately, the meeting’s chairman, Gustavo Zlauvinen of Argentina, said he was “not in a position to reach an agreement” after Russia challenged the document.
Russia’s representative, Igor Vishnevetsky, said the final draft, which is over 30 pages long, lacked “balance”.
“Our delegation raises one important objection to some paragraphs that are blatantly political in nature,” he said, noting that Russia was not the only country to object to the text. added.
According to sources close to the negotiations, Russia specifically opposed the paragraph on the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, which is occupied by Russian forces.
The latest draft expressed “serious concerns” about military activity around Ukrainian power plants, including in Zaporizhia, as well as the loss of control of such plants by Ukraine and the adverse impact on security.
The signatories discussed many other hot topics during the meeting, including Iran’s nuclear program and North Korea’s nuclear test.
At the final Review Conference in 2015, the parties were still unable to reach agreement on substantive issues.
At the opening of this year’s conference, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the world was facing “a nuclear danger not seen since the height of the Cold War”.
“Today, humanity is just a misunderstanding, a miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation,” Guterres said.
