New York (AP) – Due to the blockade by Russia, the tenth UN conference to review the Non-Proliferation Treaty ended without a final joint declaration. “I am very sorry that this conference was not able to reach an agreement,” said the chair of the meeting, Gustavo Zlauvinen, in New York. At the four-week conference, several states and non-governmental organizations wanted to reach a binding deadline for the reduction of nuclear weapons worldwide.

The Russian representative explained that his country did not agree with the five parts of the draft agreement – he did not provide details – and that several other countries supported Russia. After his statement, representatives of dozens of other participating countries agreed with the letter. They were disappointed because no agreement was reached. On the other hand, another Russian representative complained that other participants had used the conference to resolve issues with Russia because of the war against Ukraine, instead of campaigning for nuclear disarmament. The NPT Review Conference begins on August 1 in New York.

The treaty, which entered into force in 1970, has so far been ratified by 191 countries worldwide. The goal is nuclear disarmament. However, critics complain that different rules apply to the five official nuclear powers the US, China, Britain, France and Russia than signatories without nuclear weapons.

According to the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea also possess nuclear weapons, but are not signatory states. According to the FAS, there were about 12,700 nuclear warheads worldwide by the end of 2022. That’s only a fraction of the estimated 70,300 weapons at the peak of nuclear arsenals during the Cold War in 1986.

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