Russia will not join Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons - Lavrov

MOSCOW - 19 January 2018: Russia does not plan to join the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

He stressed that Moscow shared a common interest in building a nuclear-weapon-free world but not using the methods, on which the treaty is based, Sputnik news agency reported on Friday.

Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting, Lavrov noted that "we proceed from the fact that the total elimination of nuclear weapons is possible only in the context of general and complete disarmament, in conditions of ensuring equal and indivisible security for all, including those who possess nuclear weapons, as stipulated in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPTW)".

"The treaty also provokes deep disagreements among members of the international community and can have a destabilizing effect on the proliferation regime", the Russian top diplomat added.

The TPNW was adopted on July 7 at a UN Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons. It has been signed by 50 states, and ratified only by three including Guyana, the Holy See and Thailand while the US, Britain and China haven't joined the treaty.