NEW YORK: The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) was divided Friday as Western countries expressed concern regarding Moscow’s announcement it will place tactical nuclear arms in Belarus, but permanent Council member Russia remained insolent.
Brazil and China, for their part, denounced nuclear proliferation in general as the UNSC met to hold a debate on March 25 announcement from President Putin. French Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said that this is a further setback to the weapons control architecture, to strategic stability in the west, and to world security and peace.
UNSC and Russia
Similarly, deputy British envoy James Kariuki said, “Let us be clear: No other nation has raised the prospect of nuclear use in the conflict in Ukraine. He condemned Putin’s statement and said no one threatened Moscow’s sovereignty. The UK envoy said that it did not work, but they will make efforts to support Kyiv’s efforts to defend itself.
However, Moscow struck its stance that there was no difference between NATO’s deployment of the US nuclear arms in Europe and its plan in Belarus. Western countries have termed the analogy as “misleading.”
Brazil and China warned of the dangers of nuclear proliferation in the world. In response, Brazilian Ambassador Ronaldo Costa Filho said that two wrongs do not make a right thing. The envoy said it is a race to the bottom that makes no one safe, regardless of who made the decision.
AFP reported that Beijing frankly demanded “no deployment of nuclear arms abroad by all nuclear states and the withdrawal of nuclear arms deployed abroad.” The United Nations’ (UN) high representative for disarmament, Izumi Nakamitsu, asked to all nations to “avoid taking any acts that could lead to miscalculation and escalation.” Kyiv had sought the meeting to deal with what it described as Moscow’s “nuclear blackmail.”
AFP reported that Moscow would start training crews on April 3 and wants to finish the construction of a storage facility in Belarus for tactical nuclear arms by July 1. Belarus said on Friday that they were ready to host strategic arms.
