Final document of the review conference on the implementation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) not accepted after a month of work, reports TASS on Saturday, August 27. The delegates could not agree on the provisions regarding Ukraine, in particular the nuclear facilities on this country’s territory and the Budapest Memorandum.
“We needed more time to see if it was possible to find a compromise on this particular issue – the situation around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant – and other nuclear facilities in Ukraine. The conference chairman, Gustavo Zlauvinen, stated in his speech that the Russian delegation could not accept the document without the proposed changes.
He said that the paragraph about the Budapest Memorandum was one of the points that the Russian Federation wanted to make changes in its text. According to him, Russia in general proposed changes to five paragraphs of the final document.
“They said they would not accept the text unless very substantial changes were made to the situation at Ukraine’s Russian-controlled nuclear facilities.”
– the conference chairman explained, adding that other delegations did not respond to Moscow’s call.
The Western delegations insisted on adding provisions to the final document expressing their concern about the situation at the Zaporizhzhya NPP and emphasizing the need to send an IAEA inspection as soon as possible.
However, the Russian delegation noted that the document has traditionally been adopted for a 5-year review period, so “one should focus on global issues and not politicize a particular situation that can be resolved in the near future”.
Representative of Russia, Deputy Head of the Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Igor Vishnevetsky, drew attention to the need to strike a balance, taking into account the positions of the states:
“Unfortunately, as we’ve seen, that doesn’t work. There are many committees in this hall who object to the text. Had they taken the floor, these objections would have been raised. Our delegation has only the most important objections on some points that are overtly political in nature,” he said.
Andrey Belousov, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN Office in Geneva and other international organizations, said that, however, Russia does not see the absence of a final consensus document as the failure of the NPT Review Conference. He argues that “Ukraine and its curators are responsible”.
In response, the US presidential nonproliferation envoy, Adam Sheinman, accused Russia of not accepting the document.
Budapest Memorandum and NPT
Recall that the Budapest Memorandum was signed in December 1994 by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Great Britain and the USA. According to this document, Ukraine eliminated its nuclear arsenal, and the Russian Federation, the USA and Britain guaranteed the security of Kiev.
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is a multilateral international action developed by the UN Disarmament Committee with the aim of creating a solid barrier to expanding the circle of nuclear-armed states. It was approved by the UN General Assembly on June 12, 1968, and entered into force on March 5, 1970.
On 11 May 1995, more than 170 participating countries agreed to extend the agreement indefinitely without any additional conditions.
Except for Israel, India, Pakistan, North Korea and South Sudan, almost all the states of the world are parties to the agreement.