No Consensus Reached on Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Document

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - Russia declared that the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons was not able to find consensus, the deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Department Igor Vishnevetsky said during remarks at the UN.

"Unfortunately, there is no consensus on this document. There is no consensus because many delegations to our conference do not agree on a whole host of issues, which were reflected in this draft document," Vishnevetsky said on Friday.

Calls made by Russia concerning some provisions of the final document have not been heard, he added.

Russia says adopting document for the sake of the adoption would not make sense for the future of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office and Other International Organizations in Geneva Andrey Belousov said during remarks at the UN.

"We consider consensus for consensus is safe and reasonable. If a document that does not satisfy any of the participating states were adopted, it would have in our view, greater negative consequences for the NPT and its regime than its absence in the future," Belousov said on Friday.

US Special Representative of the President for Nuclear Nonproliferation Adam Scheinman said during remarks at the UN that Russia is the reason the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) Review Conference failed to reach a consensus.

"Russia is the reason we do not have consensus today. The last minute changes that Russia sought were not of a minor character, they were intended to shield Russia's obvious intent to wipe Ukraine off the map," Scheinman said on Friday.

The United States will continue to pursue actionable and achievable arms control and disarmament measures, Scheinman said at the UN.

"We will continue to pursue actionable, achievable, arms control and disarmament steps," Scheinman said at the the end of the Nuclear Weapons (NPT) Review Conference on Friday after parties failed to reach a consensus on a final document.

Scheinman added that the NPT is needed now more than ever and the United States will remain at the table.

The termination of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty was not reflected in the final draft text of the tenth Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) Review Conference, Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office and Other International Organizations in Geneva Andrey Belousov said at the UN.

"The termination of the INF Treaty... all of these issues are relevant to the NPT and to international security," Belousov said on Friday at the end of the NPT Review Conference. "Despite the concerns of a significant number of states, they are not reflected in the draft report."

Belousov said other issues not reflected in the draft document included the development of increasingly close military and technical cooperation between non-nuclear weapon states and nuclear strategic partners, the participation of non-nuclear weapon states in nuclear sharing, the collective consent of NATO members to use nuclear weapons and the deployment of nuclear weapons on the territory of non-nuclear weapon members of the alliance.