Moscow Stresses Necessity to Prevent Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

Moscow stresses the necessity to prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons, the information and press department of the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Nuclear weapons non-proliferation issue was the key one at the second session of the Preparatory Committee opened the day before in Geneva for the Conference considering implementation of the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) that will take place in 2005.

At the session the Russian delegation put the emphasis on the necessity to strengthen the NPT as a "cornerstone disarmament document", as well as on its universalisation, "without any damage inflicted on the international co-operation in the sphere of peaceful nuclear energy." The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that Moscow "is standing for preservation and strengthening of non-proliferation regimes providing both global and regional stability and security." "We are sure that we can resist new challenges only through joint efforts of the international community in this field," the information and press department of the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

According to the Russian party, "at present, proliferation of nuclear weapons and their delivery vehicles would cause strategic chaos with a higher risk of regional conflicts with the use of nuclear weapons. We must firmly resist such a course of events," Moscow believes.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, NPT is "the major restrictive factor. It also provides for the development of international co-operation in the sphere of peaceful nuclear energy." That is why Russia believes it extremely important to conduct a multilateral unbiased consideration of the implementation of the NPT.

According to Moscow, the main objective of the Committee is to prepare another consideration of the implementation of every provision of the Treaty in 2005. The Russian party believes that there is a certain basis for it. It is the Final document adopted in 2000. "It has a list of multilateral, regional and other measures. In fact, it is a program for joint efforts aimed at increasing NPT efficiency," the Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out.