Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Statement by representative of the Russian Federation Roman Kolesnikov at the thematic discussion on Disarmament Machinery in the First Committee of the 79th session of the UNGA

Madam Chair,

We assign the UN, in accordance with its Charter, the central role in addressing issues of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation (ACDN), as well as international peace and global security. The tasks of strengthening existing and developing new regimes in this area should be addressed either within the framework of existing conventional mechanisms or the UN disarmament machinery. This principle only can ensure genuine multilateralism in disarmament.

The ongoing unlawful visa refusals by the US authorities to the leading experts of the Russian delegation are a significant counterproductive factor in the work of the UNGA First Committee. Washington flagrantly violates its obligations under the 1947 Agreement regarding the UN Headquarters and disregards a number of key provisions of UNGA resolution A/RES/78/116. We call on the United States to show responsibility and take measures to address the situation in order to fulfill its own obligations to ensure an unhindered and indiscriminate access of representatives of all Member States to the UN Headquarters. We expect visas to be issued to all members of the Russian delegation.

Madam Chair,

It is necessary to intensify the progressive and constructive work of all elements of the unique disarmament "triad" – the UNGA First Committee, the UN Disarmament Commission (UNDC), and the Conference on Disarmament (CD). To this end, Member States should strictly respect the mandates and rules of procedure of these structures and avoid politicization, which severely affects the search for consensus solutions to the pressing ACDNP problems.

In this regard, the ongoing attempts by Western States to undermine multilateral disarmament fora and use the United Nations to serve their own vested ambitions without taking into account the interests of other Member States, primarily developing countries, require special attention of the international community. These States continue to politicize the activities of the UNGA First Committee, the UNDC and the CD. They openly call for the revision of the current ACDNP architecture, based on the norms and principles of international law, and for its replacement with some non-binding rules designed to ensure further dominance of this group of States.

We deem such actions absolutely unacceptable, charged with confrontation and fraught with the division of international community, increased tensions, loss of trust and distraction of its attention from the real international security problems. Such steps provoke further erosion of the existing international legal system in the field of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation, undermine international security in general and make any progress towards complete and general disarmament impossible.

The CD activities are an illustration of all the above-mentioned destructive tendencies. In violation of the Conference's mandate, Western States use this forum to settle political scores and consolidate their non-core preferences on the disarmament platform. At the CD, there are attempts to introduce issues that are not directly related to its mandate and agenda.

The cause of this state of affairs lies not in the principles of the CD's work, but in the unwillingness of Western colleagues to engage in the implementation of the tasks assigned to this forum by the decisions of the First Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on Disarmament: namely, to negotiate international legally binding instruments on arms control and disarmament.

Simultaneously, we note that meaningful results in the field of the ACDN could be achieved only should the necessary political will be demonstrated by Member States. The establishment of five CD Subsidiary bodies, as well as the approval of the agenda for a three-year UNDC cycle, with its already traditional item on nuclear disarmament and a new item on emerging technologies in the ACDN and international security context has been a clear proof thereto.

At the same time, we would like to warn against UNDC duplicating discussions on emerging technologies at other professional fora. Discussion of emerging technologies should be results-focused, take into account the interests of all Member States, and address both the risks and advantages these technologies bring about in the ACDN context.

Madam Chair,

We are convinced of the need to consolidate the international community around a creative and constructive agenda in order to maintain and enhance the existing system of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation agreements. Guided by these goals, we are submitting a biennial draft resolution on “Strengthening and developing the system of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation agreements” for consideration by the UNGA First Committee. The document is designed in the spirit of a unifying agenda. We look forward to its adoption by consensus.

Russia, for its part, will continue its efforts towards improving the effectiveness and coherence of the disarmament triad. It is important to oppose any attempts to revise the UN disarmament machinery, under whatever pretexts. The work of the UNGA First Committee, the CD and the UNDC should be result-oriented and carried out in full compliance with the UN Charter, other norms of international law and the prerogatives defined for them. The Ideas about reforming the basic working methods and rules of procedure of UN disarmament fora are counterproductive.

We would like to recall our March 2016 initiative which remains relevant aimed to overcome the two decades of stagnation in the CD negotiating work. We renew our call to launch the elaboration of an international convention to combat acts of chemical and biological terrorism, which would allow overcoming stagnation and launching the negotiation process in the Conference in accordance with the existing mandate. The Russian-Chinese draft treaty on the prevention of the placement of weapons in outer space and of the threat or use of force against space objects also remains on the CD's table.

We are convinced that the Conference, by virtue of its unique status as the single negotiating forum in the field of disarmament, can make a significant contribution to normalizing the international security situation and helping to build confidence among States.

Thank you.