Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at a UN Security Council meeting on the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction: Confidence Building Measures (Excerpts)

January 18, 2018

Weapon Program: 

  • Nuclear
  • Missile

Mr President,

Mr Secretary-General,

The Russian Federation welcomes the initiative of President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev on holding a special meeting of the UN Security Council on the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction: Confidence Building Measures.

It was a timely proposal, considering that the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the backbone of the international nuclear non-proliferation system, was opened for signature 50 years ago on July 1. We believe that the risks and threats we are facing in this sphere must be dealt with on the basis of the NPT through a balanced application of its three basic components: non-proliferation, disarmament and peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

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The concrete priority steps designed to keep the nuclear non-proliferation regime at the current stage include the pooling of efforts in the interest of ensuring a sustained implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPA) to deal with the situation related to the Iranian nuclear programme. The UN Security Council has unanimously supported the JCPA by approving relevant Resolution 2231, which means that it bears responsibility for its implementation. Iran has strictly abided by its commitments, which is regularly confirmed by the IAEA. The overwhelming majority of the international community recognises that the JCPA makes a tangible contribution to the strengthening of the non-proliferation regime and the maintenance of peace and security. The real achievement of multilateral diplomacy, which resulted from efforts undertaken not only by the parties to the agreement but also by many other cooperative countries, including Kazakhstan, should not be renounced to accommodate the current political demand in certain countries.

It is clear that the JCPA’s collapse, the more so through the fault of one of the P5+1members, will be an alarm signal to the entire international security architecture, including prospects for solving the nuclear problem on the Korean Peninsula. We reaffirm the urgency of the roadmap proposed by Russia and China for the purpose of solving this problem solely by peaceful means.

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