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.
Putin’s statement was read out by Andrey Ivanovich Belousov, Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry, at the conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York. He said that amid the current complex international situation, additional multilateral efforts are needed to create conditions for further progress towards a nuclear-weapon-free world. He stressed that this must be done while strictly upholding the principle of not compromising the security of any party.
The statement noted that Russia, as a leader in nuclear energy, is ready to expand cooperation in this field with interested NPT member states. Moscow maintains that countries fully complying with their NPT obligations should have access to peaceful nuclear energy without undue restrictions, according to the statement. Putin further stressed that stronger global efforts are required to move towards the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons in the current challenging security environment.
Russia also expects the conference to be productive and to strengthen the global nuclear non-proliferation regime. The 11th NPT Review Conference began on Monday and will continue until May 22. Earlier, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called for renewed efforts to bring life to the NPT.
