Moscow. January 3. INTERFAX - Five nuclear powers - China, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, France - have issued a statement of commitment to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and mutual non-targeting of missiles.
The statement of the leaders of the five countries was published on the Kremlin's website.
"The People's Republic of China, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America and the French Republic consider it their primary responsibility to prevent war between nuclear-weapon States and reduce strategic risks," the statement says.
"We declare that there can be no winners in a nuclear war and it should never be unleashed. Since the use of nuclear weapons would have far-reaching consequences, we also affirm that nuclear weapons - as long as they continue to exist - should serve defensive purposes, deter aggression and prevent war. We believe that the further proliferation of such weapons should be prevented," the statement says.
"We reaffirm the importance of countering nuclear threats and stress the importance of maintaining and complying with our bilateral and multilateral agreements and commitments in the field of non-proliferation, disarmament and arms control. We remain committed to our obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), including our commitment under article VI "to negotiate in good faith on effective measures to end the nuclear arms race in the near future and nuclear disarmament, as well as on a Treaty on general and Complete disarmament under strict and effective international control," the statement said.
"Each of us intends to maintain and further strengthen our national measures to prevent the unauthorized or unintentional use of nuclear weapons. We reiterate the relevance of our earlier statements about non-targeting and confirm that our nuclear weapons are not aimed at each other or at any other state," the statement says.
