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Russia, Belarus Warn Against Violation of ABM Treaty
Russia and Belarus Wednesday called for strengthened efforts to strictly abide by the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, saying that any violation of the treaty would be very dangerous.
The two countries made the appeal at the general debate of the First Committee of the 55th General Assembly session, which began Monday. The First Committee is in charge of disarmament and international security.
Sergey Lavrov, the Russian permanent representative to the United Nations, told the general debate that the First Committee "cannot ignore the problem of the ABM Treaty, for the threat of its breaking apart along with the destruction of the whole system of the major disarmament agreements is of concern to the international community."
The ABM Treaty, signed by the United States and the former Soviet Union in 1972, constitutes a cornerstone of global strategic stability, and goes far beyond the U.S.-Russian bilateral relations in its significance.
Stressing the importance of strict compliance with the treaty in the disarmament process, Lavrov said, "Russia is prepared to further reduce its nuclear weapons on a bilateral basis with the United States, as well as on a multilateral basis with other nuclear states. Certainly, this would be possible only under conditions for preserving the strategic arms balance as a guarantee against the return to global power confrontation and arms race, under the conditions of preserving and strengthening the 1972 ABM Treaty."
The United States is actively engaged in developing the NMD system in order to seek its own absolute security superiority at the expense of security of other U.N. Member States.
The international community see the U.S. efforts to seek revision of the treaty and to develop the national missile defense (NMD) system as a move to jeopardize the global strategic stability. The move, if not checked, will lead to a new round of arms race.
"The decision of U.S. President (Bill) Clinton not to commit himself to the deployment of the national missile system is viewed in Russia as a thoughtful and responsible step," he said. "Yet, the fact is that the same decision also provides for an accelerated development of the NMD."
"The program is being carried out at full speed," he said. "The tests are continuing."
Echoing the statement by the Russian representative, Sergei Martynov, the first deputy foreign minister of Belarus, said at the general debate Wednesday, "We are fully confident that a key factor of principle in security is the necessity to preserve strategic parity and the existing balance of power in the world."
"In this connection, the preservation of and compliance with the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems are a logical basis for maintaining global stability," he said.
The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, or the ABM Treaty, is the short form for the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems.
Any violation of the treaty "could lead to a very dangerous demolition of the entire architecture of the existing international agreements," he said.
In their speeches, the two representatives also said that Russia and Belarus will soon cosponsor a draft resolution on the ABM Treaty once again.
Hu Xiaodi, the Chinese ambassador on disarmament, said Tuesday that China will join Russia, Belarus and other countries in submitting the draft resolution for the second time. They presented the draft, entitled "Preservation of and Compliance with the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty," and managed to have it adopted last year by the General Assembly.
The adoption mirrors the hope of most countries in the world to maintain global strategic balance and stability, Hu said.
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