EU condemns nuclear threats to Ukraine from Russia

The European Union has condemned Russia's threats to use nuclear force in its war of aggression against Ukraine.

The EU said this at a meeting of the First Preparatory Committee for the 11th Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in Vienna, Yevropeiska Pravda reports.

In its statement, the European Union condemned "the actions and threats of the Russian Federation to use nuclear force in its illegal, unjustified, and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine."

"We would also like to recall that on January 3, 2022, Russia signed a joint statement by the leaders of the five nuclear powers, reaffirming, among other things, that 'nuclear war cannot be won and should never be waged,'" the statement said.

The EU also expressed concern over Russia's statement about its readiness to conduct a nuclear test and called on Russia to "fully respect its obligations as a state party to the NPT and to abide by the moratorium on nuclear tests."

"Russia has grossly violated its obligations to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. The loss of confidence in a nuclear weapon state that does not comply with its security assurances undermines the NPT and the disarmament and non-proliferation architecture," the EU emphasized.

In addition, the EU condemned Russia's statement of March 25 about its intention to deploy nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus, contrary to Belarus' commitment to "eliminate all nuclear weapons from (its) territory", undertaken in Budapest.

Author - Olena Madiak, 03/08/2023