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US President Biden in front of the White House (July 27)
Photo: MICHAEL REYNOLDS/EPA
The war in Ukraine has fueled new fears that the nuclear powers USA and Russia could get into a direct military conflict - and use nuclear weapons in the process.
Now US President Joe Biden has again called on Moscow to take part in talks on nuclear weapons control.
In a statement released Monday, Biden reiterated that his administration is ready to negotiate "expeditiously" on a replacement for the New Start treaty, which limits the number of nuclear weapons on either side.
The contract, signed in 2010, expires in 2026.
"Russia should show that it is ready to resume work on nuclear arms control," the president said.
He criticized the Russian invasion as "brutal and unprovoked aggression" that "shook the peace in Europe".
Russia is confused
Moscow was surprised at Biden's offer.
"Is this a serious report or has the White House website been hacked?" a Russian foreign ministry official asked Reuters.
Biden's call comes as the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference begins in New York.
At the start of the event, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the world was in a »time of nuclear danger such as it has not been since the height of the Cold War«.
Guterres is reminiscent of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Mankind is "in danger of forgetting the lessons forged in the terrible fires of Hiroshima and Nagasaki," Guterres said, referring to the US-led nuclear strikes against Japan in World War II.
The world is "just one misunderstanding or miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation," said the Secretary-General.
The agreement, to which 191 countries have joined, forms the basis for nuclear disarmament worldwide.
It states that only the US, Russia, China, France and the UK can possess nuclear weapons.
The four other suspected nuclear powers India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea have either not joined the treaty or have withdrawn from it.
The NPT Conference should have taken place in 2020
The aim of the treaty is to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, promote nuclear disarmament and promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
A review of achievements is planned every five years.
The tenth review conference was supposed to take place in 2020, but was postponed due to the corona pandemic.
So far, humanity has been very lucky that there have not been any further nuclear attacks.
“But luck isn't a strategy.
Nor does it protect against geopolitical tensions escalating into a nuclear conflict.« The world is currently confronted with a threat »not seen since the height of the Cold War«.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a letter to the conference participants that there can be no winners in a nuclear war.
Such a war should never be started.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) is also expected at the meeting in New York in the evening.
She had recently visited the museum of the US atomic bomb attack in Nagasaki on a trip to Japan.
fek/dpa/Reuters/AFP