Foreign ministers representing the Group of Seven (G7) countries this week expressed their support for existing arms control agreements and suggested a gradual approach toward achieving a nuclear-weapon-free world.
At the end of their meeting in Lucca, Italy, the diplomats from the G7 – consisting of the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, Italy, and Japan – on Tuesday released a statement on nonproliferation and disarmament that said the group welcomes “continued implementation” of the U.S.-Russian New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, adding that “[c]ompliance is essential” for the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
“In this context, we call upon the Russian Federation to preserve the INF Treaty by addressing concerns regarding its full and verifiable compliance,” it said. U.S. officials confirmed in February that Russia has deployed a land-based cruise missile in violation of the treaty; the Pentagon is developing responses to Moscow’s actions as part of the administration’s Nuclear Posture Review.
The U.S. State Department said Wednesday that the 13th session of the Bilateral Consultative Commission for New START was held from March 29 to April 11 in Geneva, where delegations from Moscow and Washington “continued the discussion of practical issues related to the implementation of the Treaty.” Details of these discussions are classified, however.
The G7 document called for “realistic” initiatives toward verifiable nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation, particularly those involving dialogue between nuclear-weapon states and non-nuclear-armed nations. “There is no alternative to an inclusive step-by-step, progressive approach taking into account the need for international stability and security for all as the way to create conditions that could allow a world without nuclear weapons,” it said.
To this end, the seven governments expressed support for the long-sought-after fissile material cutoff treaty, calling on states to end production of fissile material for use in nuclear weapons. Notably absent from the document was wording that would reflect the current negotiations in the United Nations on a treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons – a process the nuclear-weapon states have boycotted.
The statement also expressed the G7’s ongoing commitment to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s role in coordinating nuclear security efforts worldwide and promoting the peaceful use of nuclear technology, in particular as a means of continuing the work of the Obama administration’s Nuclear Security Summit process. The statement highlighted the creation of a Nuclear Security Contact Group at the fourth and final summit last year to facilitate ongoing global cooperation in this area.
The G7 also addressed recent global security developments condemning in its statement North Korea’s latest nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches as well as the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
