Disarmament Diplomacy

Issue No. 59, July - August 2001

Documents & Sources

Russian P-5 Initiative

'Interview granted by Alexander Yakovenko, the Official Spokesman of Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Interfax News Agency in Connection with the New Russian Strategic Stability Initiative, July 6, 2001', Russian Foreign Ministry transcript, Document 1288-06-07-2001, July 6.

"Question: 'Please comment on how the new proposal of the Russian side for the use of the format of the five countries which are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council for the consolidation of strategic stability will be realised in practical terms. As far as we know, this subject was raised during and at the end of the Russian-French summit talks in Moscow.'

Yakovenko: 'The gist of the proposal is that the five nuclear states which are permanent members of the UN Security Council, bearing in accordance with the United Nations Charter special responsibility for the ensuring of strategic stability, should institute and commence a permanently operating consultation process on the problems of strategic stability within the Five. In practical terms it is planned, among other things, to submit for the discussion of the Five our proposal for further drastic reductions in the strategic offensive arms of Russia and the USA to a level of 1,500 warheads [and below] for each of the parties...under the strict control provided by the agreements START I and START II. As a result of those Russian-American reductions, by our estimates, the aggregate number of nuclear warheads of the five nuclear powers would not exceed 4,000 after the year 2008. It is currently on the order of 14,000 nuclear warheads on the strategic carriers of all five nuclear countries. We hope, of course, that the other members of the nuclear club - Britain, France, and China - also will continue to show restraint in the nuclear field.'

Question: 'What, in your opinion, could be the result of the implementation of that accord?'

Yakovenko: 'It appears that the accord of the Five would give a powerful impetus to the entire process of real nuclear disarmament, including by way of the performance by the nuclear powers of their obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and improvement of the regimes for the non-proliferation of WMD and their means of delivery.'

Question: 'What importance is being attached to the 1972 ABM Treaty in the implementation of the new Russian initiative?'

Yakovenko: 'As Russian President Vladimir Putin has stressed, the 1972 ABM Treaty is closely associated with further deep reductions of strategic offensive arms. The consequences of the destruction of this Treaty will be extremely adverse for strategic stability, [will] present an insurmountable obstacle to further strategic offensive arms reductions and may stimulate the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Therefore, the question of the preservation and strengthening of the ABM Treaty, undoubtedly, will retain its relevance also in the context of the new consultation process proposed by us to the other members of the Five.'

Question: 'Are there any specific proposals for the strengthening of the regimes for the non-proliferation of WMD in the new Russian initiative?'

Yakovenko: 'In the Five format, with the consent of the other parties, it would also be possible to discuss methods of counteraction against the erosion of the internationally recognized regimes for the non-proliferation of WMD and the task of creating, including with consideration of the Russian proposals for a Global Control System, a multilateral regime for control over missile technology. Among the other threats to strategic stability we perceive the danger of a new arms race where it is so far non-existent - in space. Therefore, we consider a negotiation process ripe for the elaboration of an international agreement on preventing the appearance of weapons in space.'"