NPT Conference in Turmoil on Final Day

The final day of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty conference was marred by disputes over the session's final statement, Reuters reported today.

The annual session to plan for the treaty's 2010 review conference was scheduled to end today, but Iran and other Nonaligned Movement nations objected to the chairman’s summary statement, according to Reuters

Developing nations argued that the statement focused too much on treaty compliance concerns, notably regarding Iran, and not enough on provisions requiring nuclear-weapon states to move toward disarmament, Reuters reported. [via Yahoo! News]

Labels: INF Treaty, NPT, proliferation

Russia MIght Leave the INF Treaty

A top Russian general said Thursday that Moscow may unilaterally opt out of a Soviet-era arms reduction treaty with the United States, Russian news agencies reported.

Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, the chief of the Russian military's General Staff, was quoted by ITAR-Tass and Interfax as saying that Russia could pull out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, negotiated between Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1987.

He said the decision would depend on the United States' actions with its proposed missile defense system, parts of which Washington is seeking to deploy in Poland and the Czech Republic. [via ABC News]

Labels: INF Treaty, Nuclear Weapons, Russia, Treaty, US