A State Department spokesperson said that despite Russia failing to accept a final draft of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, it still holds strong since all other state parties showed their support.
Principal Deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel responded to Russia's decision to block consensus on a final draft of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty through an Aug. 28 news statement.
“The United States will continue to work alongside the international community to achieve the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons,” Patel said in the statement. “The NPT remains and will remain the fundamental cornerstone of the nuclear nonproliferation regime and essential to advancing nuclear disarmament and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.”
Al Jazeera reported Russia blocked the adoption of the joint nuclear non-proliferation treaty Aug. 27 during negotiations at the UN headquarters in New York. Igor Vishnevetsky, deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Department, said the document was unbalanced due to concerns about Russia's military activities around Ukrainian power plants — in particular Zaporizhzhia, which Russia currently controls.
“We are proud to have worked constructively and in good faith with all Parties toward a consensus,” Patel said in the statement. “Russia’s actions reflect only on Russia. It is clear that the rest of the NPT’s States Parties recognize the Treaty’s role as an essential pillar of the international rules-based order.”
Patel said despite weeks of productive negotiations the Russian Federation blocked the final nuclear non-proliferation treaty draft just to block language that acknowledged the grave radiological risk at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, according to the statement.
