1 March 201719:19
398-01-03-2017
Distinguished
Mr. President,
Distinguished
colleagues,
I am pleased to have the opportunity to address
such a representative audience. The fact that high ranking officials of Member
States as well as of non-Members consider it to be an honor to speak at the
Conference on Disarmament (CD) proves the authority, relevance and promising
future of this forum when it comes to strengthening and improving the
international legal framework that the system of global strategic stability and
international security is built upon. There is no doubt that each State wishes
to be heard. Each member of international community is seeking to ensure its
national security interests are firmly secured and do not slide into dependency
on instant political considerations. In our view it gives a special value to
the CD, where all participants can hold an insightful dialogue on equal terms
dealing with the most sensitive security issues and seek solutions to complex
problems of arms control, disarmament and WMD non-proliferation.
We are all here united by the noble goal to ensure
global and regional security and stability in a sustainable way. We are
positive that elaborating efficient and viable instruments of arms control
under the aegis of the United Nations, as well as strengthening the existing
regimes of WMD non-proliferation contributes to achieving this goal.
We have all the instruments necessary for such
work. They are – a comprehensive “triad” of the United Nations, unique by its
expert potential and experience accumulated – the UNGA First Committee, the
Conference on Disarmament (CD) and the UN Disarmament Commission. It is
significant that all the elements of this mechanism are closely interconnected,
dynamically complementing one another and set to operate based on the common
agenda. In accordance with their respective mandates they are designed to
fulfill specific functions, which would be rather problematic to “delegate” to
some other body or structure on different principles and rules of procedure.
A special place in this disarmament system which
has proved its efficiency belongs to the CD – a single negotiating body which
served as the venue for elaborating a whole series of basic international
agreements in the field of non-proliferation and arms control. We cannot but be
seriously worried by the attempts initiated several years ago to erode the
established system by way of pulling certain agenda items out of the CD and
putting them to the United Nations General Assembly.
Mistaken are those who think that a change of venue
or, even more than that, of the rules of procedure, can facilitate bridging
States’ approaches to addressing arms control issues. Due to such
misapprehensions we risk to be thrown decades backwards, when the international
community was only tentatively identifying possible institutional framework and
modalities of solving issues in the field of arms control, disarmament and WMD
non-proliferation and was just getting closer to a conclusion, logical and now
universally recognized, about inevitability and invariability of the
comprehensive and consensus-based approach to the issues of disarmament.
This universally recognized principle, requiring
scrupulous work to ensure that interests of all sides are respected and to
eliminate factors that negatively affect strategic stability, is embedded in
the decisions of the First UNGA Special Session devoted to disarmament. In
particular, there is no doubt, that any attempts to reach a “global nuclear
zero” in an allegedly “easy short cut” way through decisions taken in haste by
the UN General Assembly are doomed for failure from the start. The positive
experience of Russia and the US undertaking reductions of strategic offensive
arms, effective and unprecedented in scale, proves that any decision in this
sensitive area needs a meticulous comprehensive preparatory work and mutually
accepted compromises.
Thus, a viable alternative to the disarmament
“triad” and the CD in particular is not seen either under current circumstances
or in the future. We are convinced that the CD negotiating potential is far
from being exhausted.
Undoubtedly, we share serious concerns over the
long-lasting “impasse” of the CD. Recent years have witnessed numerous
initiatives aimed at overcoming the deadlock in its negotiating work. None of
them, though, has been realized in full. However, it is encouraging to see that
States being aware of their responsibility for the forum’s future do not give
up and continue seeking the way out. Thus, the decision made by the CD under
Romanian Presidency to establish a Working Group to find effective solutions on
the Programme of Work (PoW) represents a first step towards an agreed PoW at
the 2017 CD session, though it falls short of meeting hopes and aspirations of
some delegations.
In our turn, we have also been undertaking efforts
in recent years to find possible compromises on the draft PoW building on the
basis of both the traditional CD agenda items and new topics that could
potentially unite all the States.
In this regard, I would like to emphasize the
relevance of the initiative put forward by the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov to elaborate in the CD an international convention on the suppression of
acts of chemical and biological terrorism and of our respective proposal on the
PoW. This Russian proposal takes into account the interests of all States and,
as we believe, has certain chances to be approved. The Russia-China draft
treaty on the prevention of placement of weapons in outer space and of the
threat or use of force against outer space objects (PPWT) is also “at the
table” of the CD. It enjoys wide international support and is now
best prepared for negotiations.
I would like to underscore that these two
initiatives do not belong to the realm of abstract ideas and calls for action.
Both have already been formalized in shape of specific documents. What we need
to proceed to effective negotiations on them is to demonstrate a political
will. By doing so we would be able to contribute to the revitalization of the
robust functioning of the CD not only in words, but in deeds.
Distinguished colleagues,
I would like to assure you that the Russian
delegation in its capacity of the CD Presidency in February-March will exercise
its duties impartially. It will put maximum efforts to find areas of
convergence on the PoW with a view of reaching a mutually acceptable compromise
based on opinions expressed by the CD delegations. In our turn, we call upon
all to exercise flexibility.
I wish every success to all of you.
Thank you for your attention.
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