Global Security Newswire Reporter: Russian Expert Urges to Ban Ground-Based Missiles.
In early 2014, the Russian International Affairs Council published a working paper "Multilateral Approach to Nuclear Disarmament" devoted to strategic stability and control of nuclear weapons, which was reviewed by Rachel Oswald from GlobalSecurityNewswire who cited the paper's major author Dr. Alexander Savelyev, Head of Strategic Research Section at the RAS Institute of World Economy and International Relations.
GlobalSecurityNewswire Reporter: Russian Expert Urges to Ban Ground-Based Missile
In early 2014, the Russian International Affairs Council published a working paper "Multilateral Approach to Nuclear Disarmament" devoted to strategic stability and control of nuclear weapons, which was reviewed by Rachel Oswald from GlobalSecurityNewswire who cited the paper's major author Dr. Alexander Savelyev, Head of Strategic Research Section at the RAS Institute of World Economy and International Relations.
According to Rachel Oswald, Dr. Savelyev, a Russian analyst specializing in Russia's nuclear policy, advises to eliminate all remaining ground-based strategic missiles regarding it as a new step in international weapons control.
She points out that in the RIAC working paper Dr. Savelyev appeals to all nuclear powers – China, France, Russia, Great Britain and the United States – to sign a multilateral treaty that would once and for all ban the deployment of ground-based ballistic missiles with a range over 500 kilometers. The treaty will directly apply to Russia, the United States and China, with Moscow and Washington having a record of arms control negotiations, while no discussion of nuclear cuts was ever held with a third party.
The reviewer focuses on two approaches. Representatives of the Obama administration believe that further cuts should be made before other states enter the talks, while Russia sticks to the approach explained by President Putin in February 2012: "Further steps in nuclear disarmament should be comprehensive, with all nuclear powers joining the process."
In conclusion, Rachel Oswald underlines that Dr. Savelyev is sure the issue should be primarily analyzed by Russian and American experts, with the government representatives to be engaged at a later stage. "If mutual understanding is achieved, this forum may include the representatives of all five nuclear powers later on," she cites the expert.
