MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/. The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons continues to play a key role in maintaining international peace and security, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said.
He pointed out that the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons was one of Russia’s foreign policy priorities. According to the senior diplomat, Moscow "relies on the existing international legal framework centered around the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty."
"It continues to play a key role in maintaining global peace and security. More than fifty years of its successful operation is nothing but evidence of the treaty’s importance to all the states parties and proof of its utility," Ryabkov noted at a session in the series of webinars titled "The Past and Present of Russian Nuclear Policies and Public Diplomacy in the Nuclear Field," hosted by the Center for Energy and Security Studies with assistance from the Presidential Grants Foundation.
According to him, the core value of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is that it "has actually become a universal international instrument."
"This was largely made possible by the fact it is based on a carefully calculated balance between the three fundamental elements, namely nuclear non-proliferation, disarmament and the peaceful use of nuclear energy," Ryabkov concluded.