Statement of the CSTO Member States on The International Security and Disarmament Issues at the First Committee of the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly

September 26, 2011                                                                                            New York

The CSTO Member States are fully committed to strengthening of the multilateral disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control mechanisms. In this regard, the UN General Assembly’s First Committee is one of the key universal international forums on the international security and disarmament issues.

We commend the growth of attention of the international community to the problems of international security, disarmament and non-proliferation, and appreciate the efforts of the UN Secretary-General in this sphere.

Among the priorities we consider the provision of equal and indivisible security for all states as a condition for further progress towards nuclear disarmament, strengthening of nonproliferation regimes, supporting the establishment of zones free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in various regions of the world, the problems of provision and enforcement of security guarantees.

We consider as being equally important the issues such as counteraction against the challenges and threats of politico-military, terrorist and criminal character, that emerge on the media scene, including working out of the code of conduct in this sphere; the necessity of taking effective measures to prevent the creation of new types of weapons of mass destruction and new systems of such weapons; elaboration of international measures for transparency and confidence-building in in outer space activities and prevention of the placement weapons of any type in outer space. These issues need to be promoted within the framework of the appropriate international forums.

We intend to promote the idea of early signing of the protocol on providing assurances against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons against the Member States of the Treaty on a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Central Asia by the nuclear-weapon states in accordance with the NPT.

The early entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) will become a guarantee for further strengthening of the nuclear nonproliferation regime. We are convinced that voluntary moratorium on nuclear tests, observed by the world's nuclear powers, is a very important factor, but it can not serve as an alternative to such a legally binding document, as the CTBT.

In order to implement the UN General Assembly resolution proclaiming August 29 to be the International Day of Actions against nuclear tests, the CSTO member states annually conduct activities aimed at reminding the world about the terrible consequences of nuclear tests and about prevention of their recurrence in the future, and call other UN Member States to do the same.

We are convinced of the need for an early start of negotiations on elaboration of the Fissile Materials Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) within the Conference on Disarmament. This treaty, along with the CTBT, will become one of the main supports of the NPT.

We are convinced that multilateral agreements in the disarmament sphere can be worked out only under the UN auspices, while maintaining the principle of consensus.

We call for strengthening of the role of existing multilateral forums in the sphere of international security and disarmament. Only within their framework it is possible to come to universal and viable solutions, adapted to modern challenges and threats in the sphere of security.