Kazakhstan FM calls on nations to completely abandon all nuclear weapons by 2045

Citing the current situation in Ukraine, Kazakh Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tleuberdi appealed to all the countries that possess nuclear weapons to eliminate their lethal weapons by 2045. Taking to the Telegram messaging app, the minister said that the risk of Russia using nuclear weapons is too high and urged Kremlin to abandon the idea of using the deadly weapon against its neighbouring nation. Notably, the statement from the Kazakhstan minister came ahead of the first meeting of states parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). The conference is scheduled for today in Vienna, June 20.

"The world is now in crisis, the risk of using nuclear weapons is very high, and what is happening in Ukraine and mutual threats are prompting a ban and elimination of nuclear warheads," said Tleuberdi. He said the current situation in the already war-torn nation prompted several nations to appeal to Moscow to ponder before taking any step against Ukraine. The Kazakh minister urged Russian head Vladimir Putin to think about the collective vulnerability of humanity if he fires any such destructive weapon on the battlefield. 

"The current military conflict on the territory of Ukraine, talk about the return of nuclear weapons and mutual threats to use nuclear weapons make us, more than ever before, think about the collective vulnerability of humanity and the urgent need to ban and eliminate these deadly weapons," the minister said. Besides, Tleuberdi called on all the countries that have nuclear weapons to construct a roadmap to eliminate nuclear weapons by the UN centenary— by 2045. Citing the data presented by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, he said more than 13,000 nuclear warheads are now dispersed across the world, and the threat of their use has become “more real than in the darkest days of the Cold War.”

Kremlin rejects the possibility of using nuclear weapons against Ukraine

Amid the speculations that Russia could use nuclear weapons against its neighbouring country, Ukraine, Russia's First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanskiy had rejected the possibility and said that Moscow would use them if the existence of the state came under threat. According to a report by news agency Sputnik, Polyanskiy, during a meeting of the UN Disarmament Commission, Polyanskiy dismissed all the allegations and speculation of Russia encouraging the use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine. Earlier on February 28, Moscow had sparked a global alarm after Russian President Vladimir Putin placed the country's strategic nuclear forces on high alert. Reacting to Putin's command of nuclear weapons, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had earlier said that the country has a concept of domestic security which states that the conditions in Moscow could resort to its nuclear weaponry.

Image: AP/Embassy of Kazakhstan in Qatar