BUSH AND PUTIN FAIL TO MAKE IMPACT ON NUCLEAR ARMS CONTROL


24 May 2002

Greenpeace denounced today's US/Russian arms control agreement as meaningless and weak.

President Bush has hailed the arms control treaty they have agreed as one that “will liquidate the legacy of the Cold War”. In part this claim is true in that the United States and Russia are no longer adversaries with massive nuclear arsenals aimed at each other. The legacy of environmental damage and human suffering caused by more than fifty years of nuclear materials and weapons production, the massive stockpiles of nuclear materials acquired and the remaining substantial nuclear arsenals on both sides will, however, remain for decades to come.

“At a time when tensions between India and Pakistan are so extreme that a nuclear war is a clear possibility, Russia and the United States could have set the example today that nuclear weapons are not tolerable and must be outlawed. Instead they have sent a clear signal that it is acceptable to retain nuclear weapons indefinitely. What people must realise is that with the Treaty of Moscow, not one single nuclear weapon will be destroyed,” said William Peden, Greenpeace International Disarmament Campaigner.

According to Greenpeace the agreement signed in Moscow:

- will not legally bind either side to destroying a single nuclear warhead or delivery vehicle (missile, plane, submarine or truck);

- has no legally binding means of verification;

- is of limited duration (ten years, with no guarantee that its limited constraints will be maintained);

- has no benchmarks to help gauge treaty compliance or non-compliance;

- allows maximum flexibility in how each side structure their nuclear arsenals over the next decade – including the possibility of new nuclear weapons development and deployment, and;

- does not address the thorny issue of the thousands tactical nuclear weapons still deployed by both sides.

“This treaty undermines the past practice of reducing nuclear arsenals in legally binding treaties that are both irreversible and verifiable. Without such norms, the incentive for the other six nations who possess nuclear weapons to themselves permanently reduce their nuclear arsenal is limited,” William Peden concluded.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
William Peden, Greenpeace International Nuclear Campaigner in Moscow +44 7801 212992
Mhairi Dunlop, Greenpeace International Nuclear Press Co-ordinator in Moscow +31 65 350 4731