On March 6 RIAC in conjunction with the international organization Global Zero held youth debates “Nuclear Disarmament: “For” and “Against”. The discussions covered the current situation with regard to nuclear weapons, positions of leading nuclear powers, possibility of including third countries into the disarmament dialogue and the future role of nuclear weapons in international relations.
On March 6 RIAC in conjunction with the international organization Global Zero held youth debates “Nuclear Disarmament: “For” and “Against”. The discussions covered the current situation with regard to nuclear weapons, positions of leading nuclear powers, possibility of including third countries into the disarmament dialogue and the future role of nuclear weapons in international relations.
Igor Ivanov, RIAC president, and Andrei Kortunov, RIAC general director, addressed the young experts in nuclear disarmament with a welcoming speech.
“The key problem concerning nuclear issues is how to attain international security in current conditions in the most effective and least costly way and what will be the role of nuclear weapons in this process” stressed Igor Ivanov.
During the first session of the debates the young experts -- participants of the debates -- had an opportunity to discuss the RIAC report “Nuclear Weapons and Strategic Stability. Search for Russian-American Consensus in the 21st century” with its authors: Sergei Rogov, ISKRAN director, Major-General ISKRAN deputy director Pavel Zolotaryov, Colonel-General Viktor Esin, ISKRAN deputy director, and vice-admiral, RF Ministry of Defense senior military representative to NATO (2002-2008) Valentin Kuznetsov; the experts could also ask questions on subjects of interest to them in the field of nuclear disarmament.
Sergei Rogov, ISKRAN director, stated that “at the moment complete disarmament does not seem feasible. We can speak only about phased reduction of nuclear arsenals”.
In the second session took part young experts holding different views on nuclear disarmament: leading research scientist of the RAN Institute of International security Alexei Fenenko and Pyotr Topichkanov, Carnegie Centre coordinator of the “Non-Proliferation Problems” program. Alexander Gabuyev, deputy chief editor of “Kommersant”, acted as moderator.
Debates “Nuclear Disarmament: “For” and “Against”
