Since 1967, the United States has reduced its nuclear arsenal by almost 90%, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday.
“States with nuclear weapons moved towards disarmament, including the United States. The number of nukes in our arsenal is now 90% less than it was at its peak in 1967“, he said at the United Nations conference to review progress in the implementation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is organized every five years. The 10th conference was originally planned to be held in New York in May 2020, but was postponed from May 1 to 26 August 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Treaty was signed in 1968 and legalized the nuclear arsenals of the United Kingdom, China, Russia, the United States and France. Other signatory states are obliged not to develop or purchase weapons of mass destruction.
More of 190 states have signed the Treaty. However, Israel, India and Pakistan are not its parts. In January 2003, North Korea withdrew from the Treaty.
Biden asked Russia for a new nuclear arms treaty
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, expressed his willingness to begin negotiating “immediately” with Russia a new treaty to replace the New Start, the pact between the two countries that limits the number of nuclear weapons and that will expire in 2026.
He also included China in his message, although he assured that the responsibility falls especially on Moscow, after having invaded Ukraine.