International Leaders Urge Presidents Obama & Medvedev to Lead Effort To Eliminate All Nuclear Weapons

PARIS - Leaders Agree That First Meeting of the Two Presidents - Occurring Just
Before the G-20 - Is an Historic Opportunity To Set World’s Course to Zero
Nuclear Weapons

- Global Zero Commission To Launch Soon After G-20 Summit

With nuclear weapons high on the agenda for the historic first
Obama-Medvedev meeting, more than 100 international leaders on the forefront
of the Global Zero initiative are urging the U.S. and Russian presidents to
work toward dramatic reductions of U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals and then
to lead a longer-term effort to eliminate nuclear weapons worldwide. These
leaders said that because American and Russian stockpiles account for 96
percent of the world’s nuclear weapons, the U.S. and Russia should begin with
deep reductions to their arsenals, while beginning a dialogue with the other
nuclear weapons states. The group believes that a commitment by nuclear
powers to begin serious negotiations for global zero would strengthen the
case against any non-nuclear nation which strives to acquire nuclear weapons
and would set the stage for the first ever multilateral negotiation on
nuclear reductions.

The group is comprised of distinguished American and Russian leaders,
including former U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel; Ambassador Richard Burt, former
U.S. Chief Negotiator in Strategic Arms Reduction Talks; Gen. (Ret.) Jack
Sheehan, Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Atlantic Command; former U.S. Secretary of
State Lawrence Eagleburger; former U.S. Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci;
former U.S. National Security Advisor, Dr. Anthony Lake; former U.S.
Ambassador to Russia Tom Pickering; former Russian Foreign Minister Igor
Ivanov; former Soviet Union Foreign Minister Alexander Bessmertnykh; Col.
Gen. (Ret.) Yevgeny Maslin, former Chief of the Main Directorate, Russian
Ministry of Defense; Dr. Evgeny Velikhov, President, Kurchatov Institute; and
Mr. Igor Yurgens, Chairman of the Institute of Contemporary Development (of
which Russian President Medvedev is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees),
in addition to leaders from other key countries.

The Obama-Medvedev meeting will occur in London on April 1, just before
the kickoff of the G-20 meeting there.

Former U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel said this week, “We are urging the two
presidents to seize this historic opportunity to confront the most urgent
security threat to our world: the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the
related risk of nuclear terrorism. The two leaders can move beyond
traditional arms control and, in a bold move, set the world on a course
toward the total elimination of all nuclear weapons — global zero. This will
not happen quickly, easily nor unilaterally. Getting to global zero will
require the reduction of all nations’ nuclear arsenals over many years. It is
important to begin now, and set the world on a new course.”

Former Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said, “A far-reaching joint
initiative by Presidents Medvedev and Obama in favor of nuclear weapons
non-proliferation and nuclear arms limitations brings the problem to the top
of the contemporary international policy agenda. It would set the stage for
multiplying efforts in the nuclear disarmament and arms limitations area at
the bilateral, regional and global levels, for strengthening the nuclear
weapons non-proliferation regime, and for a constructive outcome of the 2010
Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. Constructive and long-term
cooperation between Russia and the U.S., who possess more than 90 percent of
the world’s nuclear weapons, is crucial for nuclear non-proliferation and
nuclear weapons reductions. However, that process should not be limited to
Russian-American efforts. The other nuclear states should contribute to that
as well. That kind of interaction predetermines success of international
efforts for building up the international security of the 21 Century and
moving toward the world free of nuclear weapons.”

Global Zero is a new worldwide, nonpartisan initiative spearheaded by
more than 100 international leaders working for a binding, verifiable
agreement to eliminate all nuclear weapons. The group includes nine former
heads of state; eight former foreign ministers from the United States,
Russia, Britain and India; three former defense ministers from the United
States and Britain; six former national security advisors from the United
States, India and Pakistan; and nineteen former top military commanders from
the United States, Russia, China, Britain, India and Pakistan. Global Zero is
forming an international commission of prominent political and military
leaders and policy experts from key countries that will be unveiled in the
coming weeks. With a clear, realistic and pragmatic appreciation of the
challenges of achieving the goal, this distinguished commission will develop
a detailed step-by-step action plan for getting to zero nuclear weapons.

In early March, Sen. Hagel and Amb. Burt met with President Medvedev in
Moscow, where eliminating nuclear weapons was discussed. Sen. Hagel and Amb.
Burt have given letters to Presidents Obama and Medvedev, co-signed by more
than 90 Global Zero leaders, urging bold action toward eliminating nuclear
weapons.

Last July, then-candidate Barack Obama said, “It is time to … stop the
spread of nuclear weapons; and to reduce the arsenals from another era. This
is the moment to begin the work of seeking the peace of a world without
nuclear weapons.” This month, President Medvedev declared that his country
“… is fully committed to reaching the goal of a world free from these most
deadly weapons.”

Source: Global Zero

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