The UK and Russia hold pivotal roles within the Non-Proliferation Treaty regime and share a common interest in its preservation and longevity. This report offers a set of recommendations on how the UK and Russia could display leadership, create opportunities, and positively shape the 2020 Review Conference and advance the NPT agenda beyond RevCon.
The UK and Russia hold pivotal roles within the Non-Proliferation Treaty regime and share a common interest in its preservation and longevity. This report offers a set of recommendations on how the UK and Russia could display leadership, create opportunities, and positively shape the 2020 Review Conference and advance the NPT agenda beyond RevCon.
The recommendations in this report are the result of the European Leadership Network (ELN) led project "Can Moscow and London Find a Way Forward on the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)?" The project began in July 2019 and will run up until March 2020 under a grant from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s British Embassy in Moscow.
The project brought together governmental officials, retired career diplomats, former military officials, and expert representatives of think tanks and academia from the UK and Russia. The first track 2.0 workshop held in cooperation with the Centre for Energy and Security Studies (CENESS) in Vienna in September 2019 addressed promising areas of bilateral cooperation and coordination that Moscow and London could adopt and advance in the run to the NPT 2020 Review Conference. The second track 1.5 workshop held in partnership with the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) in Moscow in November 2019 attempted to translate promising recommendations into detailed, actionable policy recommendations the UK and Russia could adopt.
Participants acknowledged that despite the limited dialogue between governments, and the little time remaining until the 2020 NPT Review Conference, both sides should explore possible avenues in good faith. Attendees differed on whether the UK and Russia should focus on steps “achievable” in the run-up to the 2020 conference or long-term goals beyond the 2020 horizon that could substantially contribute to the disarmament and non-proliferation agenda.
While both workshops identified a significant number of steps that London and Moscow could take to push the NPT agenda forward, a silver bullet recommendation does not exist. This report reflects on ideas that featured most prominently within the project discussions.
The report offers several recommendations under each of the three pillars of the Treaty: non-proliferation, disarmament and the peaceful use of nuclear energy. These include supporting the establishment of the Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone (MEWMDFZ), universalising the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), providing ideas for a set of new nuclear risk reduction measures, and answering challenges related to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
Can Moscow and London Find a Way forward on the NPT? 602 Kb
