MINSK, 26 September (BelTA) - The world has returned to a point where the nuclear threat is clearly visible again, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxim Ryzhenkov said at the high-level plenary meeting on the occasion of the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons at the UN headquarters in New York on 26 September, BelTA has learned.
The head of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs supported the need to promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, but at the same time regretfully stated that there is nothing to celebrate today.
“The world has once again returned to a point where the nuclear threat is clearly visible. The 'Doomsday Clock' shows less than a minute and a half to midnight, symbolizing the moment of nuclear apocalypse. This is the closest the clock's hands have ever been to midnight in its entire history. Of course, this is merely a symbol. However, it makes one ponder how close humanity has come to the point of no return,” Belarus’ top diplomat said.
He recalled that within the framework of the new paradigm of international relations, security guarantees and new principles of cooperation were developed. These include the non-expansion of NATO to the East, the creation of the OSCE with its principle of indivisible security, and the Budapest Memorandum, in which countries that renounced nuclear weapons, including Belarus, were given guarantees to refrain from the threat or use of force, and from economic coercion.
“However, today all guarantees and principles have been trampled. While we in the USSR and in the first years of our independence were disarming with the help of the West, removing nuclear weapons, and disposing of conventional arms, mines with their assistance, the West, as it turned out, was quietly rearming. Today, they are even laying mines on our border - in Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. Legitimate security concerns of other countries, including Belarus, were ignored. The result today is an unprecedented level of tensions, including in our region of Europe,” Maxim Ryzhenkov said. “Moreover, we were given no choice. In this situation, Belarus was forced to host Russian tactical nuclear weapons to guarantee its own security.”
For the same purposes, according to the minister, Russia’s Oreshnik ballistic missile systems will be deployed on Belarusian territory. The Security Guarantees Treaty signed last year by Belarus and Russia within the framework of the Union State provides for the use of any types of weapons, including nuclear, for defense.
“We are not engaging in a mindless arms race, nor are we provoking further confrontation. Our response is asymmetrical, purely defensive in nature, and is carried out in strict accordance with international law and the provisions of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons," the Belarusian top diplomat said.
The head of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs supported the need to promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, but at the same time regretfully stated that there is nothing to celebrate today.
“The world has once again returned to a point where the nuclear threat is clearly visible. The 'Doomsday Clock' shows less than a minute and a half to midnight, symbolizing the moment of nuclear apocalypse. This is the closest the clock's hands have ever been to midnight in its entire history. Of course, this is merely a symbol. However, it makes one ponder how close humanity has come to the point of no return,” Belarus’ top diplomat said.
He recalled that within the framework of the new paradigm of international relations, security guarantees and new principles of cooperation were developed. These include the non-expansion of NATO to the East, the creation of the OSCE with its principle of indivisible security, and the Budapest Memorandum, in which countries that renounced nuclear weapons, including Belarus, were given guarantees to refrain from the threat or use of force, and from economic coercion.
“However, today all guarantees and principles have been trampled. While we in the USSR and in the first years of our independence were disarming with the help of the West, removing nuclear weapons, and disposing of conventional arms, mines with their assistance, the West, as it turned out, was quietly rearming. Today, they are even laying mines on our border - in Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. Legitimate security concerns of other countries, including Belarus, were ignored. The result today is an unprecedented level of tensions, including in our region of Europe,” Maxim Ryzhenkov said. “Moreover, we were given no choice. In this situation, Belarus was forced to host Russian tactical nuclear weapons to guarantee its own security.”
For the same purposes, according to the minister, Russia’s Oreshnik ballistic missile systems will be deployed on Belarusian territory. The Security Guarantees Treaty signed last year by Belarus and Russia within the framework of the Union State provides for the use of any types of weapons, including nuclear, for defense.
“We are not engaging in a mindless arms race, nor are we provoking further confrontation. Our response is asymmetrical, purely defensive in nature, and is carried out in strict accordance with international law and the provisions of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons," the Belarusian top diplomat said.
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