NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has accused Russia of using its nuclear weapons for ruthless threats of war. Earlier statements by Kremlin chief Wladimir Putin, according to which military aid for Ukraine could have unprecedented consequences, are “dangerous nuclear saber-rattling,” said Blinken on Monday at the start of the NPT review conference in New York. The statements are contrary to international agreements. “There is no place in our world for nuclear deterrence based on force and intimidation or blackmail. We must stand together to oppose it.”
The more than 50-year-old Convention on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), 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 have nuclear weapons. The other four suspected nuclear powers India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea have either not joined the treaty or have withdrawn from it. The aim of the treaty is to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, promote nuclear disarmament and promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
Blinken said the US would only consider using nuclear weapons in extreme circumstances to defend the vital interests of the US, its allies and partners.
Also speaking on the sidelines of the conference in New York, Blinken said the US government was also “deeply concerned” that Russia had seized several nuclear power plants there in the war against Ukraine. With regard to the Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia, for example, there are credible reports that Russia is using the plant as a kind of protective shield – that is, shooting at Ukrainian forces from close to the plant. The Ukrainians, on the other hand, cannot fire back because it could lead to a terrible nuclear accident, Blinken lamented. It is the most powerful nuclear power plant in Europe./scb/DP/he