Conference of the Luxembourg Forum "Rule out the use of nuclear weapons as hostilities continue in Ukraine"
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- Summary
- Summary
Rule out the use of nuclear weapons as hostilities continue in Ukraine
Online conference of the International Luxembourg Forum
on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe
June 21, 2022
All participants in the conference recognize that the danger of the use of nuclear weapons, even after an almost tenfold reduction of their arsenals as a result of the implementation of the START treaties and unilateral cuts in non-strategic nuclear weapons, has significantly increased rather than diminished. Europe and the entire world have suffered gravely because of the profound crisis amid hostilities in Ukraine.
Participants in the Conference stress the importance of the Joint Statement of five nuclear-weapon states of January 3, 2022 on preventing nuclear war and averting an arms race. However, in the past few years and particularly in recent months, statements of responsible officials and influential experts quite often mention the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons in an aggravated military-political environment, going beyond the generally accepted framework of deterring a nuclear attack.
The Ukrainian crisis is not a local military-political conflict between Russia and Ukraine. As more and more countries become involved in it, it is taking on a pan-European and global character. It is necessary to prevent a direct armed clash between Russia and NATO, which could lead to the use of nuclear weapons.
All parties should unconditionally renounce the use of any weapons of mass destruction. Non-participation of NATO armed forces in the hostilities in Ukraine must be ensured. Russia, for its part, should refrain from striking the territory of NATO countries. All parties must make sure that the conflict does not extend to the territory of other countries. Failure to observe these conditions would open the way to a rapid escalation of the armed conflict into a direct clash of Russia and NATO and the use of nuclear weapons.
Participants in the conference consider necessary an early agreement on a cease-fire and armistice in order to save lives and prevent further destruction of cities and essential infrastructure.
In order to strengthen stability and predictability, official representatives of nuclear powers should issue statements affirming that the sole purpose of their nuclear arsenals is deterrence of a nuclear attack and, if necessary, responding to such an attack.
Measures must be taken to extend the time available to leaders of states taking decisions in response to a perceived nuclear attack. This can be done without loss of control, since the supreme bodies of government have the necessary backup channels for taking such decisions. Such measures would help to avoid errors of the information systems for early warning of missile attacks as well as misinterpretation of the information received from these systems or from other sources.
Major nuclear powers should adopt political decisions and organizational-technical measures ruling out single-person authority to decide on the use of nuclear weapons.
Concurrently, a number of provisions of the major powers’ nuclear doctrines causing concern of other countries should be clarified.
Participants in the conference call for:
- resuming bilateral U.S.–Russia dialogue on strategic stability;
- launching consultations regarding the main parameters of a follow-on to the New START treaty;
- making every effort to intensify constructive dialogue within the framework of the Non-proliferation Treaty.
Participants in the Conference of the International Luxembourg Forum
forPreventingNuclearCatastrophe:
James ACTON | Co-Director of the Nuclear Policy Program and Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Ph.D. (USA). |
Alexey ARBATOV | Deputy Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the International Luxembourg Forum; Academician, RAS (Russia). |
Sergio DUARTE | President of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs,Member of the Supervisory Board of the International Luxembourg Forum, Ambassador (former United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs) (Brazil). |
Vladimir DVORKIN | Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the International Luxembourg Forum; Professor, Ph.D.; Major General (ret.) (Russia). |
Rolf EKEUS | Ambassador, Member of the Supervisory Board of the International Luxembourg Forum (former High Commissioner on National Minorities at the OSCE; Chairman of the Governing Board, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) (Sweden). |
Viktor ESIN | Research Professor at the Center for Advanced Studies of National Security of Russia, Expert Institute of the National Research University «Higher School of Economics»; First Vice-President of the Academy of Security, Defense and Law and Order (former Chief of Staff – First Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Strategic Missile Forces); Professor, Ph.D.; Colonel General (retired) (Russia). |
Igor IVANOV | President of the Russian International Affairs Council; Professor at the Moscow State Institute for International Relations (University), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation; Member of the Supervisory Board of the International Luxembourg Forum (former Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Minister of the Foreign Affairs); Corresponding member, Russian Academy of Sciences (Russia). |
Robert LEGVOLD | Marshall D. Shulman Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science and the Harriman Institute, Columbia University; Ph.D. (USA). |
Vladimir LUKIN | Professor, National Research University – Higher School of Economics; Member of the Supervisory Board, International Luxembourg Forum (former Deputy Chairman of the Committee on International Relations, Council of Federation, Federal Council of Russia (Russian Senate); President, Russian Paralympic Committee; Chairman of the Committee on International Relations and Deputy Chairman of the State Duma, Russian Federation; Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United States of America; Commissioner on Human Rights for the Russian Federation) (Russia). |
NUNN Sam | Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors, the Nuclear Threat Initiative; Member of the Supervisory Board of the International Luxembourg Forum (former Chairman of the Armed Services Committee and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the U.S. Senate) (USA). |
Sergey OZNOBISHCHEV | Deputy Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the International Luxembourg Forum; Member, Council on Foreign and Defense Policy; Ph.D. (Russia). |
William PERRY | Professor of the Stanford University, Member of the Supervisory Board of the International Luxembourg Forum (former Secretary of the US Department of Defense) (USA). |
George PERKOVICH | Vice President for Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Ph.D. (USA). |
William POTTER | Director, James Martin Center for Non-Proliferation Studies; Professor of Non-Proliferation Studies, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey; Member of the Supervisory Board of the International Luxembourg Forum, Ph.D. (USA). |
Roald SAGDEEV | Distinguished Professor of the Department of Physics at the University of Maryland; Director Emeritus, Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS); Member of the Supervisory Board of the International Luxembourg Forum; Academician, RAS (Russia/USA). |
Dmitry TRENIN | Member, Russian International Affairs Council; Member, Council on Foreign and Defense Policy; Ph.D (Russia). |