The entry into force of the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) will increase pressure on nuclear powers to take steps to abandon the arms race. This opinion was shared with “Lenta.ru” by the former representative of the UN Secretary General for Disarmament Angela Kane.
“Now that the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty is in force, it will increase pressure on the nuclear-weapon states,” Kane said. In particular, this concerns the readiness of these powers to comply with Article 6 of another agreement – the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). In accordance with it, the signatory countries – including Russia and the United States – pledge to negotiate on ending the nuclear arms race in the future and on nuclear disarmament.
Kane stressed that the nuclear powers have not taken any steps in this direction for a decade since the entry into force of the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START) between Russia and the United States.
The NPT entered into force on January 22, 2021. The Treaty provides for a ban on the development, testing, storage, acquisition, transportation and use of nuclear weapons. At the moment, 51 states have ratified the document – mainly from Latin America, Oceania, Southeast Asia and Africa. At the same time, none of the signatories possesses nuclear weapons.
The countries of the so-called nuclear club – the USA, Russia, China, Great Britain, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel – did not even take part in the negotiations. NATO even opposed the treaty. According to the alliance, the agreement “contradicts the current architecture of non-proliferation and disarmament.” In Russia, the promotion of the treaty was also called a mistake, stressing that the document was developed without the participation of nuclear powers.
The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty was signed in 2010 by the presidents of Russia and the United States – Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama. The agreement came into force in 2011 and expires in February 2021. Earlier it became known that the new US administration is ready to extend the agreement for a period of five years.