MOSCOW, May 7. /TASS/. Moscow calls on the United States and other Western countries to stop undermining the non-proliferation regime for the sake of short-term political considerations, said acting head of the Russian delegation at the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in New York City Mikhail Ulyanov. The text of his speech has been posted on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
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The Russian delegation pointed to the "accusations of violating the 1994 Budapest Memorandum and undermining the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty" in the speeches of the Ukrainian and some other delegations. They argued that Russia’s actions allegedly brought into question the reliability of the so-called negative security assurances to non-nuclear weapon states," Ulyanov said.
Moscow fully complies with the obligation not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons endorsed by Russia on May 5, 1994, in Budapest. "Of course, it could hardly be otherwise," Ulyanov added.
Thus, the practice of implementation of the Budapest Memorandum in the context of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has confirmed the viability of the negative security assurances even in a crisis situation. And that’s despite the fact that the memorandum, in contrast to the classical negative assurances, is a political agreement, which is not legally binding," the diplomat said.
"It remains to be seen why our opponents keep speculating on this issue in a negative vein. Moreover, they are doing this here, at the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which has brought together professionals who are able to separate propaganda from real obligations in the field of non-proliferation," Ulyanov said. "We would like to call on the delegations of the United States, Canada, Germany, Poland and Estonia to realize the full extent of their responsibility for the fate of the NPT and stop undermining the nuclear non-proliferation regime for the sake of short-term political considerations."