Biden Urges Russia To Resume Work On Nuclear Arms Control With US
President Joe Biden has called on Russia to demonstrate that it is ready to resume work on nuclear arms control with the United States.
Biden made this call in a statement issued ahead of the 10th Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
New York will host the Review Conference to be held from Monday to August 26. The Conference was postponed from 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions.
In their first meeting in Geneva in June last year, with the aim of reducing the risk of armed conflicts and the threat of nuclear war, Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed to begin an integrated bilateral Strategic Stability Dialogue in the near future.
Biden said that his administration, which has prioritized reducing the role of nuclear weapons in its national security strategy, renews its commitment to the world to be a responsible steward of its nuclear arsenal, and to continue working toward the ultimate goal of a world without nuclear weapons, at this Conference.
Biden made it clear that his Administration is ready to expeditiously negotiate a new arms control framework to replace New START when it expires in 2026. “But negotiation requires a willing partner operating in good faith. And Russia’s brutal and unprovoked aggression in Ukraine has shattered peace in Europe and constitutes an attack on fundamental tenets of international order,” he added.
Biden reminded China that it also has a responsibility as an NPT nuclear weapons state and a member of the P5 to engage in talks that will reduce the risk of miscalculation and address destabilizing military dynamics.
In an unprecedented move earlier this year, five powerful nuclear-weapon nations had pledged not to fight a nuclear war, and agreed that a further spread of nuclear arms should be avoided.
The five countries, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, are known as the P5.
Biden revealed that a proposal has been developed to secure a mutual return to full implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action to ensure that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon.
Washington is working closely with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to ensure the AUKUS partnership among Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States meets the highest nonproliferation standards.
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