Russia Ready To Sign Nuclear Free Contracts With Conditions

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attended the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting (PMC) with Russia in Jakarta, Thursday (13/7/2023). BETWEEN PHOTOS/Muhammad Iqbal/YU

JAKARTA - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow is ready to sign the Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Contract (SEANWFZ) protocol on one condition.

Russia is one of the ASEAN dialogue partners who attended the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Jakarta, Thursday, July 13. Lavrov will also attend the East Asian Summit (EAS) Ministerial Meeting and ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) on Friday (14/7).

"We are ready to sign the protocol... on the condition that all countries that sign this agreement fulfill their obligation not to develop and place any nuclear weapons," Lavrov said.

He gave an example of Australia, which is already bound by a nuclear arms control treaty or Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapon, but violates its obligations by forming a trilateral defense pact between AUKUS and Britain and the US to create nuclear-powered submarines.

Lavrov believes Australia has violated its obligations because it has placed infrastructure related to nuclear weapons in its territory.

This is not just a matter of Russia joining this agreement. This is a call to invite countries that own nuclear weapons to sign this protocol and ensure that the parties do not use nuclear weapons in Southeast Asia," Lavrov continued.

The Southeast Asian Agreement as a Nuclear Free Zone or known as the Bangkok Agreement was signed in 1995 by all ASEAN members.

The agreement stipulates that countries that sign the treaty should not "develop, manufacture or acquire, own, or have control of nuclear weapons", "place or transport nuclear weapons in any way", or "test or use nuclear weapons."

However, 28 years since the SEANWFZ treaty was signed by 10 ASEAN members, none of the nuclear weapons-owning countries have adopted the agreement protocol. There are five countries that have nuclear weapons, namely Russia, China, Britain, the US, and France.

Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi previously stated that ASEAN would review the contents of the protocol so that nuclear weapons-owning countries also signed and ratified the SEANWFZ protocol.

"We will continue communication with each other... assign our negotiators to return to see (the protocol content) because there are several sentences in the paragraph that have not been approved," said Retno on Tuesday (11/7).