THE UNITED NATIONS, December 13. /TASS/: THE UNITED NATIONSThe United Nations General Assembly on Friday almost unanimously adopted a Russia-proposed resolution on strengthening the system of treaties and agreements on arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation.
Some 179 states, including the United States, voted in favor of the resolution, and no country voted against it. Only Ukraine, Georgia and Palau abstained from the vote, a TASS correspondent reported.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in his September address at the UN General Assembly that the adoption of the document, drawn up after the termination of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, was one of Russia’s priorities at the 74th session of the UN General Assembly. The document calls for "seriously considering negative consequences that the termination of the treaties and agreements on arms control, disarmaments and non-proliferation would entail."
The resolution welcomes the UN’s role in holding talks on this issue. It also appeals to the UN Secretary-General to "continue providing assistance that may be needed to protect the integrity of deals on arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation and also for enhancing the system of these agreements."
In his interview with TASS in November, Vladimir Yermakov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control, who led Russia’s delegation to the UN General Assembly’s First Committee, described the document as "a very serious instrument that will help resolve real problems." According to the Russian diplomat, the document has no specifics as to the types of weapons to be reduced, because "it is a subject of a separate discussion." Such resolutions "have political nature and are geared to create favorable atmosphere in the area of arms control," he noted.
