Russia to Push for Mideast Free of Weapons of Mass Destruction

WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, 7 Oct 2013

Steve Gutterman, Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service

Russia wants to revive plans for a conference on ridding the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction now that Syria has pledged to abandon its chemical arms, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in comments published on Monday [30 Sep 2013].

Such a move could put Moscow at odds with Washington which announced the conference would be delayed last year. Analysts said it feared the event would be used to criticize its ally Israel, believed to be the region’s only nuclear-armed state.

Russia has been pushing to extend its influence in the Middle East. It initiated a U.N. deal to get Syria to abandon its chemical arms after Washington threatened military strikes to punish Damascus for a sarin gas attack on rebel areas.

“We will seek to have this conference take place,” Lavrov said in an interview with the Russian daily Kommersant.

Lavrov said Syria’s agreement to destroy its chemical weapons by next June should trigger a broader effort.

“In the current situation, it is particularly important to make the … non-possession of weapons of mass destruction universal in this explosive region,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Syria’s government always viewed its long-undeclared chemical arsenal as a counterweight to the nuclear arms Israel is believed to possess. Israel has never acknowledged having atomic weapons.

DIVIDED POWERS

A plan for a meeting to lay the groundwork for the possible creation of a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction was agreed in 2010, co-sponsored by Russia, the United States and Britain.

But Washington said the meeting would be delayed just before it was due to start at the end of last year. No new date has been announced.

“Our American partners baulked and sidestepped this,” Lavrov said in the interview, published the same day Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to meet U.S. President Barack Obama.

The United States also rejected a Russian proposal to include a line in a U.N. Security Council resolution saying that Syria’s plan to scrap chemical weapons was an important step toward a WMD-free Middle East, Lavrov told Kommersant.

Russia has been Syria’s biggest diplomatic ally during the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad that has killed more than 100,000 people.

Speaking to the U.N. General Assembly on Monday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem called for the creation of a zone free of weapons of mass destruction but said it was “unachievable without the accession of Israel”.

Arab states such as Egypt and Bahrain have made similar calls in speeches at the General Assembly.

But U.S. and Israeli officials see Iran’s nuclear activity as the main proliferation threat in the Middle East.

They have said a nuclear-free zone could not be a reality until there was broad Arab-Israeli peace and Tehran curbed its nuclear program, which they fear is aimed at developing nuclear weapons capability.

Washington remained committed to working toward a Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their delivery systems, the U.S. envoy to the U.N. nuclear agency said earlier this month.

(Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations and Fredrik Dahl in Vienna; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Go to Original – news.yahoo.com

Share this article: email mastodon facebook 🔗 copy link

DISCLAIMER: The statements, views and opinions expressed in pieces republished here are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of TMS. In accordance with title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. TMS has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is TMS endorsed or sponsored by the originator. “GO TO ORIGINAL” links are provided as a convenience to our readers and allow for verification of authenticity. However, as originating pages are often updated by their originating host sites, the versions posted may not match the versions our readers view when clicking the “GO TO ORIGINAL” links. This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Comments are closed.