UNITED NATIONS, August 25. /TASS/. Contradictions between the participants of the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference could mean it will end without a concluding statement, Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office and Other International Organizations in Geneva Andrey Belousov told reporters.
The diplomat is deputy head of the Russian delegation at the conference that’s taking place in New York.
"Based on the results of the three-week work of the conference, a list of the most pressing issues that could become an obstacle to reaching consensus on the concluding document was determined. The most problematic cluster is the topic of disarmament. Many States continue to defend their priorities and initially stated positions. The main contradictions are related to the completely opposite approaches of nuclear states and non-nuclear parties to the NPT to nuclear disarmament, the issue of reducing nuclear risks, which has been poorly developed so far, ensuring greater responsibility of the members of the five nuclear countries for fulfilling commitments under article VI of the NPT (on nuclear disarmament - TASS) and adopted during previous review cycles, the applicability of the principle of unconditional nuclear disarmament," he said.
Belousov said that work on the draft document is still ongoing. "We hope that despite the continuing contradictions on a number of key issues, the delegations of the member countries of the treaty will show political will and make every effort to develop consensus wording," he said.
The Russian diplomat also said that Western countries at the conference focused on the situation around Ukraine. "The case in point is the situation in Ukraine, which, through the efforts of Western countries, has become almost the dominant feature of the discussions at the conference. There are difficulties with a substantive, without prejudice and politicization, exchange of views on a number of other issues. Of course, this state of affairs is not conducive to an effective work of the conference and is unlikely to help with its effective conclusion," he said.
Belousov said the Russian delegation is ready to engage with all participants of the NPT conference to resolve problems of any complexity. "There are no taboo topics for us at the conference. We are open to discussing any, even the most sensitive issues," he said.