Official website of the President of Russia

Dear Mr Akiba:

Dear Mr Ito:

I carefully read the letter you sent following the conference to review the Non-Proliferation Treaty in New York, in which you talked about strengthening the non-proliferation regime.

I agree with you that the problem has to be addressed today under difficult circumstances. It is therefore extremely important that efforts to reinforce the non-proliferation regime should go hand in hand with the building of a just and democratic system based on mutual confidence and undiminished security for all nations. These are the points underlying our proposal to create a world in the 21st century oriented towards a comprehensive strengthening of international security and stability.

Russia highly values the Non-Proliferation Treaty and is fully committed to its obligations as established in Article VI. We firmly support the phased and steady progress of all five nuclear powers along the road of nuclear disarmament. A practical confirmation is the ratification by the Russian Federation of the START II treaty, the 1997 package of ABM agreements and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

We are also prepared to go further by making deeper cuts in our nuclear capabilities. Perhaps you know that in 1997 the Russian and U.S. presidents agreed to lower their level to 2,000–2,500 units by the end of 2007. And even this is not, in our view, the limit. Russia is ready to consider reducing our respective nuclear potentials to 1,500 units.

Russia consistently works for the preservation and observance of the 1972 ABM Treaty as a key element of strategic stability and an indispensable condition for the reduction of strategic offensive arms. Unfortunately, these efforts could be foiled by the U.S. if it decides to deploy a national missile defence system, something explicitly banned by that treaty. Meanwhile, the unconditional observance of the ABM Treaty in its present form, without any modifications, is an essential prerequisite for the functioning of existing treaties on nuclear disarmament and continued efforts in this field.

We take a favourable view of the positive momentum gained in recent years by the effort to establish nuclear-free zones in different parts of the world. We see in it a sizeable contribution to the development and consolidation of the non-proliferation regime. Russia is a signatory to most of the international agreements on such zones and supports efforts to set up new nuclear non-proliferation areas — on the Korean Peninsula, in the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe, and Central Asia.

Thank you for your invitation to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki in July of this year during the G8 summit.

In conclusion I would like to emphasise that Russia, as a country possessing nuclear weapons, is aware of its responsibility for maintaining international security and global and regional stability.

VLADIMIR PUTIN