Ukraine-Russia war hangs over UN meeting on nuclear weapons
- A UN conference on nuclear disarmament is starting this week after multiple delays due to the pandemic
- Russia-Ukraine war heightens fears that nuclear weapons may be used, dimming hopes of arms control
There was already plenty of trouble to talk about when a major UN meeting on the landmark Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty was originally supposed to happen in 2020.
Now the pandemic-postponed conference finally starts this week as Russia’s war in Ukraine has reanimated fears of nuclear confrontation and cranked up the urgency of trying to reinforce the 50-year-old treaty.
“It is a very, very difficult moment,” said Beatrice Fihn, the executive director of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
Russia’s invasion, accompanied by ominous references to its nuclear arsenal, “is so significant for the treaty and really going to put a lot of pressure on this,” she said. “How governments react to the situation is going to shape future nuclear policy.”
The four-week meeting aims to generate a consensus on next steps, but expectations are low for a substantial – if any – agreement.
Still, Swiss President Ignazio Cassis, prime ministers Fumio Kishida of Japan and Frank Bainimarama of Fiji, and more than a dozen nations’ foreign ministers are among attendees expected from at least 116 countries, according to a UN official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorised to speak publicly before the conference.