On May 3, Russian Ambassador to France Alexey Meshkov stated that discussions about expanding nuclear capabilities in Europe are undermining the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and encouraging other countries to develop their own nuclear weapons.
Meshkov noted that the treaty was adopted at the height of the Cold War, several years after the Cuban Missile Crisis. He said: “And we, the Americans and the British, together had the wisdom to develop this fundamental document together with other countries. And all these arguments lead, on the one hand, to the collapse of this treaty, and on the other hand, it sounds, roughly speaking, like a call to other countries of the world: why don’t we create nuclear weapons?”
The diplomat recalled that the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union were key depositaries and signatories of the NPT. He explained that the treaty was developed in response to a technological landscape where dozens of nations had the potential to build nuclear weapons, which could have triggered global nuclear chaos. According to Meshkov, the agreement aimed to prevent such a scenario, with France later joining as a party.
Meshkov expressed regret over what he described as intensifying pro-nuclear rhetoric from France, warning that it is contributing to the treaty’s erosion.
Meanwhile, at a conference of NPT participants in New York where officials have met three times without producing a final document, Andrei Belousov, Russia’s Ambassador-at-Large for Foreign Affairs, stated on May 2 that Britain and France’s nuclear ambitions reflect a long-standing strategy to avoid participation in arms control agreements. Belousov characterized this approach as systemic and noted it continues previous policies in the nuclear field. He also alleged that the Western “nuclear troika”—comprising the United States, Great Britain, and France—disregards NPT provisions while expanding its nuclear capabilities.
