Russia refuses to join nuclear weapons ban treaty
Russia will not join the Nuclear Weapons Prohibition Treaty (NPT), Foreign Minister Segey Lavrov said at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on nuclear weapons prohibition issues.
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| Russia's foreign minister announced that his country will not join the nuclear weapons ban treaty (NPT). |
On July 7, 2017, at the United Nations Headquarters, representatives of 53 countries signed this treaty.
Guatemala, Guyana, Thailand and the Vatican have ratified the treaty. However, Russia, the United States, China and other nuclear powers have not signed it.
"Russia has no intention of joining the NPT. We believe that the complete elimination of nuclear weapons is possible only in the context of general and complete disarmament, under conditions of equal security," Lavrov said.
Earlier, Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov spoke about the possible negative consequences of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
He pointed out that the agreement would not be able to promote nuclear disarmament because it did not take into account the legitimate security interests of nuclear states.
