nuclear-news

Nuclear-armed states party to the NPT gathered for their seventh conference in Washington on Wednesday and Thursday, discussing disarmament, nonproliferation, confidence building measures, transparency and the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

The five countries, known as the P5 group, include Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and China. The international NPT treaty took effect in 1970 and has been ratified by 191 governments………

The document envisions the hypothetical use of nuclear weapons in two cases, one being an attack against Russia with the use of nuclear weapons and another being large-scale aggression with the use of conventional weapons that would threaten the country’s existence, Leontyev explained.

“Therefore, the possibility of any preventive offensive actions with the use of the nuclear weapons threat is not implied,” he added. The comments come as a rebuke to several claims previously made by NATO officials with regard to Russia allegedly modernizing its nuclear forces……..

The nonproliferation official noted the difference between nuclear weapons clauses of the Russian and the US doctrines, describing the US military doctrine as too broad in justifying use of nuclear weapons for almost all purposes.

“We noted that the US nuclear doctrine is practically oversized, envisioning use of nuclear weapons for protection of vital interest, which could include almost all purposes,” Leontyev said. These interests can be anything defined as such by the United States, including the global economy and international laws, he emphasized…….

Russia and the United States, which together hold almost 90 percent of the world’s operational nuclear arsenals, are bound by the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) which lasts until 2021 and stipulates that both sides cut their stockpiles by half.

Russia did not receive any official initiatives from the United States on renewing the treaty, but will consider them should Washington offer them, Leontyev said. “There were no official initiatives. We shall consider them if we receive them,” he said………https://sputniknews.com/russia/20160917/1045395099/russian-nuclear-doctrine-unchanged.htm