Nuclear disarmament text lacked "balance", Russia blocks adoption

Russia on Saturday blocked the adoption of a joint declaration by a United Nations conference on nuclear disarmament. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which is reviewed by its 191 signatories every five years, aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.Russia objected to a draft text citing grave concern over military activities around Ukraine's nuclear plants, in particular Zaporizhzhia. Participants in the last review in 2015 also failed to reach an agreement.The 2022 meeting, which had been due in 2020, was dela yed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The failure to agree on a joint declaration followed a four-week conference in New York. Russian representative Igor Vishnevetsky said the draft final text, which was more than 30 pages long, lacked “balance.” “Our delegation has one key objection on some paragraphs which are blatantly political in nature,” he said, adding Russia was not the only country to take issue with the text. It is said that Russia was opposed in particular to paragraphs concerning the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, which is occupied by the Russian military. The draft text had expressed “grave concern” over military activities around Ukrainian power plants, including Zaporizhzhia, as well as over Ukraine’s loss of control of such sites and the negative impact on safety
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she was deeply disappointed at the lack of agreement. The US representative, Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins, said the US regrets this outcome, and even more so on Russia's actions that led us here..The Non-Proliferation Treaty, backed by 190 countries in 1970, commits signatory countries including the US, Russia, France the UK and China to reducing their stockpiles and bars others from acquiring nuclear weapons. At the last review conference in 2015, the parties were also unable to reach an agreement on substantive issues.