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On the Submission by Russia and the US to the UNSC of a
Draft Resolution on the Nonproliferation of WMD
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation
Daily News Bulletin
March 26, 2004

On March 24 Russia jointly with the United States submitted to the UN Security Council a draft resolution on the nonproliferation of WMD, their delivery vehicles and related materials. The draft had been prepared in the course of the intensive consultations held among the five permanent Council members.

Russia was among the initiators of the development of the resolution, as it proceeds from its principled line on combating the serious challenge of our time which the threat of the proliferation of WMD and their delivery vehicles is, "and the most dangerous thing," as President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin stressed at the 58th session of the UN General Assembly, "is if they get into terrorist hands."

The aim of the resolution is to strengthen international cooperation among the UN member states in combating the illegal WMU traffic. One of the tasks of the document is to orient states towards the prevention of WMD and proliferation sensitive materials from getting into the hands of nonstate entities, primarily for terrorist purposes.

In this regard, we consider it important that effective legislative measures should be taken at the national level to erect a reliable barrier to leaks of WMD and related materials to "black markets," and that multilateral cooperation be developed in the fight against this phenomenon. Of course, the entire work must rest on international law and national legislation, without hindering legitimate peaceful cooperation.

The resolution, if approved by the UN Security Council, will supplement the existing nonproliferation mechanisms and can become an effective instrument in combating new-generation challenges in this field.