Nuclear disarmament should be linked to control over new types of weapons — Gorbachev

MOSCOW, August 2. /TASS/. First Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has called for a reduction of nuclear arsenals alongside controls over cutting-edge weapons, so that no country could gain overwhelming military superiority. "Let me remind you of another provision of the joint Soviet-US statement adopted at the 1985 Geneva summit: the parties will not seek military superiority. Today it is particularly relevant. Imagine that the world will get rid of nuclear weapons in ten or fifteen years. What will be left? Piles of conventional weapons, including the newest types, often comparable in power to weapons of mass destruction. And the lion’s share of them is in the hands of a single country, the United States, which thus gains superiority on the global stage. Such a situation will block the path towards nuclear disarmament," he wrote in the article entitled To Understand Perestroika and Defend New Thinking published in the Russia in Global Affairs magazine on Monday. At the same time, he stressed that there was no military solution to any challenges or threats facing humanity in the new millennium. No major problem can be solved through efforts made by a single country or even a group of countries, he added. Gorbachev stressed that at the end of the Cold War the global community identified specific tasks inherited by the next generation of world leaders. These are eliminating weapons of mass destruction, overcoming mass poverty in third world countries, providing all people with equal opportunities in education and healthcare, overcoming environmental degradation. "The United Nations had to state at its sessions and conferences that progress in addressing these issues was insufficient. That statement is not a verdict for the current generation of leaders. However, it should force them to reassess their political approaches, comprehend the experience of their predecessors who had to deal with even more dangerous challenges. No one can negate that experience," Gorbachev stressed. Read more