Alissa Tabirian
NS&D Monitor
12/11/2015
Two nongovernmental nonproliferation organizations on Wednesday issued a joint declaration on preventing nuclear weapons proliferation and nuclear terrorism that called “as a matter of the highest priority for there to be an urgent and immediate requirement to rebuild U.S.-Russian relations.”
The joint declaration by the International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe and the Nuclear Threat Initiative followed a conference held last week by the groups in which former U.S. and Russian officials called for restoration of the two nations’ cooperation on the basis of shared nonproliferation concerns. The declaration urges U.S. and Russian leaders to resume negotiations for “follow-on reductions of strategic arms” and “cooperation on WMD security, including nuclear material security, to prevent the threat of catastrophic terrorism,” and to begin discussing “limitation, reduction and confidence-building measures related to sub-strategic nuclear weapons.”
Speakers at last week’s conference highlighted the lack of trust and “irresponsible” rhetoric between the two countries and said the potential for terrorists to acquire weapons of mass destruction is a common concern that should be used to foster collaboration. The U.S. and Russia currently cooperate on arms control through the New START treaty, which limits the number of strategic nuclear warheads and delivery systems deployed by both sides, and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which requires the elimination of intermediate-range ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles. However, they have failed to enact any post-New START nuclear arms control deals amid increasing tensions, and both have this year accused the other of violating the INF Treaty.
Moshe Kantor, president of the International Luxembourg Forum, said in a statement, “No security architecture, no set of rules, no efforts to negotiate or implement agreements can succeed without leaders who are committed to addressing core issues and who are willing to cooperate.” Members of the two organizations were joined as signatories to the declaration by William Perry, former U.S. defense secretary; Alexey Arbatov, former member of the Russian State Duma; Hans Blix, former director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency; and others.
