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Withdrawal from multilateral treaties can lead to nuclear war — CTBTO Secretary Emeritus

According to Lassina Zerbo, today, many countries are expressing the tendency to withdraw from bilateral and multilateral agreements

SOCHI, October 19. /TASS/. The withdrawal of countries from multilateral treaties has ruined the architecture of non-proliferation and can lead to nuclear war, Executive Secretary Emeritus, The Preparatory Commission of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) Lassina Zerbo reported on Tuesday. 

He pointed out that today, many countries are expressing the tendency to withdraw from bilateral and multilateral agreements. "Many things are eroding in the non-proliferation architecture," Zerbo said at the 18th Annual Meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club. If we do not focus on maintaining and sustaining those international ‘accords’ that we have had for many years, we might be facing many more difficulties."

"Yesterday I was hearing that nuclear war is too far. I don’t think nuclear war is too far, because nuclear war is a consequence of the disagreement what we see now, a big disparity between countries," Zerbo added.

According to him, the pandemic is a test for multilateral diplomacy. Many countries were profoundly disconnected. "Many world leaders retreated from multilateral coordination," Zerbo stressed.

The 18th Annual Meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club "Global Shake-Up in the 21st Century: The Individual, Values, and the State" is being held in Sochi on October 18-21. Representatives of 45 countries are attending the meeting.