Lavrov Urges Russia, US to Adopt Joint Declaration on Avoiding Nuclear War

MOSCOW – The presidents of Russia and the United States should jointly declare that the use of nuclear weapons is unacceptable, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told an international forum, the Primakov Readings, on Tuesday.

“From a political perspective, it’s of principal importance that Russia and the US calm the rest of the world and pass a joint statement at a high level that there can be no victory in a nuclear war and therefore it is unacceptable and inadmissible,” Lavrov said.

Lavrov recalled that the leaders of the US and the Soviet Union had earlier made such statements. “We do not understand why they cannot reconfirm this position now. Our proposal is being considered by the US side,” Russia’s top diplomat said.

In comments on the Pentagon’s recent statement calling for launching dialogue with Russia, China and North Korea to reduce the risks of combat actions with the use of nuclear weapons unprovoked by the US, Lavrov said: “That is said by the country’s military agency, the latest nuclear doctrine of which has significantly lowered the threshold of using nuclear weapons.”

During its contacts with Washington both at the level of the leaders, ministers and presidential aides, Moscow submitted proposals on the entire range of strategic stability issues, but has not so far received the response, the foreign minister recalled.

TASS

R.S