WASHINGTON: The United States and its nuclear allies rebuked Russia on Monday for “irresponsible and dangerous” talk about possibly deploying nuclear weapons, as a review of the keystone nuclear treaty opened at the United Nations.

“Following Russia’s unprovoked and unlawful war of aggression against Ukraine, we call on Russia to cease its irresponsible and dangerous nuclear rhetoric and behavior, to uphold its international commitments,” said the US, France and Britain in a statement.

“Nuclear weapons, for as long as they exist, should serve defensive purposes, deter aggression, and prevent war. We condemn those who would use or threaten to use nuclear weapons for military coercion, intimidation, and blackmail,” they said.

The call was issued as leaders met at the United Nations in New York for the 10th review conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which came into force in 1970.

World faces danger ‘not seen since Cold War’, warns Guterres; Putin says no winners in nuclear war

It comes as concerns are rising about the spread of nuclear technology, especially in Iran and North Korea, and China’s rapid expansion of its nuclear arsenal.

While five leading nuclear powers are among the 191 states party to the pact, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea are not.

“The NPT has reduced the risk of a devastating nuclear war, and further reduction of that risk must be a priority for all NPT states parties and for this Review Conference,” the joint statement said.

It said that Iran, currently in negotiations to limit its nuclear development, “must never develop a nuclear weapon”, and called on North Korea to halt its nuclear-related tests and launches.

In a separate statement, US President Joe Biden called on Russia and China to demonstrate their commitment to limiting nuclear arms.

Russia should demonstrate its willingness to renew a separate bilateral nuclear arms reduction pact, the New START Treaty, when it expires in 2026, Biden said.

“My administration is ready to expeditiously negotiate a new arms control framework to replace New START,” he said.

“But negotiation requires a willing partner operating in good faith. And Russia’s brutal and unprovoked aggression in Ukraine has shattered peace in Europe and constitutes an attack on fundamental tenets of international order.”

Turning on to China, Biden said Beijing has a responsibility “to engage in talks that will reduce the risk of miscalculation and address destabilising military dynamics”.

“There is no benefit to any of our nations, or for the world, to resist substantive engagement on arms control and nuclear non-proliferation,” Biden said.Meanwhile, a Russian foreign ministry source expressed puzzlement on Monday about a proposal from US President Joe Biden to negotiate a new arms control framework to replace the New START Treaty when it expires in 2026.

But in his address to at the NPT conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin said there could be “no winners” in a nuclear war and it should “never be unleashed.” Putin insisted that Russia remained faithful to the treaty’s “letter and spirit.”

Since the start of Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine, Putin has made thinly veiled threats hinting at a willingness to deploy Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons, which Russian military doctrine holds can be used to force an adversary to retreat.

UN chief’s warning

Also on Monday, UN head Antonio Guterres warned that the world faced “a nuclear danger not seen since the height of the Cold War” and was just “one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation”.

“We have been extraordinarily lucky so far. But luck is not a strategy. Nor is it a shield from geopolitical tensions boiling over into nuclear conflict,” Guterres said at the start of a conference of countries belonging to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

“Today, humanity is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation,” he said, calling on nations to “put humanity on a new path towards a world free of nuclear weapons.”

Guterres’s comments came at the opening 10th review conference of the NPT, an international treaty that came into force in 1970 to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

The meeting, held at the UN’s headquarters in New York, has been postponed several times since 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It will run until August 26.

Guterres said the conference was “a chance to strengthen” the treaty and “make it fit for the worrying world around us,” citing Russia’s war in Ukraine and tensions on the Korean peninsula and in the Middle East.

“Almost 13,000 nuclear weapons are now being held in arsenals around the world. All this at a time when the risks of proliferation are growing and guardrails to prevent escalation are weakening,” Guterres added.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2022