Moscow. January 3. INTERFAX - Moscow expects that the joint statement of the leaders of the five nuclear-armed countries will contribute to reducing international tensions, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
"We hope that in the current difficult conditions of international security, the approval by the leaders of the nuclear powers of such a political statement will help to reduce the level of international tension and deter the arms race, promote confidence-building and form the foundations of future control over offensive and defensive weapons in their interrelation, as well as measures to reduce risks," the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry said in response to a question from the media.
It says that Moscow welcomes the Joint Statement of the Five nuclear Powers published on January 3, 2022 on the prevention of nuclear war and the prevention of an arms race. "The Russian Federation firmly believes that there can be no winners in a nuclear war, and it should never be unleashed. We have consistently promoted the idea of confirming this principle by all states of the nuclear "five" (it includes Russia, as well as China, the United States, Great Britain and France)," the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
She noted that "this document was prepared on our initiative and with the most active participation of Russian representatives." Its publication was supposed to be carried out in conjunction with the beginning of the X Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. It was supposed to open in New York on January 4, but was postponed due to the deterioration of the epidemiological situation in the United States. Nevertheless, given the importance and self-sufficiency of this Joint Statement, the nuclear powers decided not to postpone its publication, the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The document of the "Five" complements and develops the bilateral statements previously adopted at the highest level with the United States (in the Joint Statement of the Presidents of June 16, 2021) and the PRC (in the Joint Statement of June 28, 2021 on the twentieth anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on Good Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation).
