UNITED NATIONS (AP) \u2014 Russia and the U.S. clashed in the United Nations on Friday over Moscow\u2019s plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, which neighboring Ukraine denounced as a desperate Kremlin attempt to avoid military defeat and \u201cthreaten the world with nuclear apocalypse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China, without naming Russia, made clear its opposition to the planned deployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine\u2019s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya called for the U.N. Security Council meeting following Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s announcement on March 25 that his country plans to deploy tactical, comparatively short-range and small-yield nuclear weapons in Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko\u00a0upped the ante\u00a0just before the council meeting, saying Russia might also deploy strategic nuclear weapons in Belarus, which Russian forces have used as a staging ground for\u00a0the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kyslytsya said it took only four days for Putin to violate a pledge he made to China\u2019s President Xi Jinping in a joint statement at their recent meeting in Moscow. It declared that all nuclear states should refrain from deploying nuclear weapons outside their countries and withdraw those deployed abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The same point was emphasized by the U.S. and Chinese deputy U.N. ambassadors, among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe call for the abolition of the nuclear-sharing arrangements and advocate no deployment of nuclear weapons abroad by all nuclear weapons states, and the withdrawal of nuclear weapons deployed abroad,\u201d said Geng Shuang of China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Calling nuclear weapons \u201cthe sword of Damocles hanging over our heads,\u201d Geng reiterated that China opposes armed attacks against nuclear power plants and the threat or use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine. He said \u201cnuclear proliferation must be prevented and nuclear crisis avoided.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beijing claims to have a neutral stance in the war, but has also stressed its \u201cno limits friendship\u201d with Russia. It has refused to criticize Moscow\u2019s invasion, and late last month released a peace plan calling for a cease-fire and talks between Ukraine and Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kyslytsya welcomed Beijing\u2019s stand, telling the council: \u201cTo the credit of the Chinese side, the Chinese side reminded Moscow in a very sensible manner that nuclear war cannot be won and fought, and that nuclear proliferation must be prevented.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia\u2019s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow is not transferring nuclear weapons but \u201coperational tactical missile complexes,\u201d which will be under Russian control. He insisted this was not in violation of Moscow\u2019s international obligations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nebenzia accused the United States of destroying key arms control agreements and he repeated Putin\u2019s objection to the tactical nuclear weapons the U.S. has deployed in other NATO countries, indicating that this violated the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the cornerstone of global disarmament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Belarus\u2019 U.N. Ambassador Valentin Rybakov said the planned deployment of tactical nuclear weapons was a reaction to \u201cthe challenges and risks to national security\u201d his country faces, citing NATO neighbors ramping up their military capacity and Western sanctions. He also criticized the U.S. nuclear sharing with its allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. deputy ambassador, Robert Wood, countered that the issue of nuclear sharing within NATO was discussed during negotiations on the NPT treaty, and for close to four decades Washington heard nothing about it from Russia until after its takeover of Ukraine\u2019s Crimean Peninsula in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wood stressed that any allegations that the United States is not in full compliance with the nonproliferation treaty \u201care just patently false.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He accused Russia of \u201cattempting to manipulate the specter of nuclear conflict\u201d to help win the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo other country is inflicting such damage on arms control nor seeking to undermine strategic stability in Europe,\u201d Wood said. \u201cNo other country has raised the prospect of potential nuclear use in connection with the war in Ukraine. \u2026 No country is threatening Russia or threatening President Putin.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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