A large network of more than a hundred European leaders has signed a petition calling for the increase in the risk of nuclear accidents, ahead of the large meeting of the UN General Assembly, which begins on Tuesday and runs until the end of September. They are appealing to the UN to pay attention to the increased risk of accidents and misjudgments due to the modernization of the world's nuclear weapons.
Former prime ministers, foreign ministers, defense ministers, diplomats, scientists and military commanders in Europe are behind the call that has been published on the internet. Many have held high positions in the defense alliance NATO member states.
Four Swedes have signed the petition. Former Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson (S) and former European Parliamentarian and party secretary Gunnar Hökmark (M). Today, Hökmark is chairman of the lobby group "A free world".
The list includes several former senior politicians and military commanders in NATO countries such as Denmark, Norway, France, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom. Previously high NATO orders are also among the signatories.
The call comes just over a month after a major nuclear accident occurred in northwestern Russia and seven top scientists and military were killed. It was the second accident in a short time in Russia with military nuclear energy involved. Almost a month earlier, twelve Russian soldiers were killed in a fire aboard a nuclear-powered mini boat. But the Russian accidents are not mentioned in the appeal.
Instead, they write that the risk of an accident with nuclear weapons is great, drawing parallels to the Cuba crisis in 1962 - almost 60 years ago. Then it was close to war broke out between Russia and the United States, since Russia secretly transported nuclear weapons to the US neighboring Cuba.
“The risk of a nuclear accident, of fault assessments and miscalculations has not been so great since the Cuba crisis. Self-sufficiency is not an option. It is not only Europe's security that is at stake, ”they write in the call to the UN.
They are very doubtful about the future of several nuclear weapons control and disarmament agreements after the US and Russia withdrew from the agreement on a ban on ground-based medium-range robots (INF). The ban expired in August 2019.
“Forcing an enemy into obedience will not restore stability. Politically unrealistic appeals for a change in behavior will not create confidence. An escalating cutting armor makes both confidence and less risky behavior increasingly difficult to achieve, ”they write.
They point out that stability is "eroding" and that North Korea has expanded its nuclear arsenal and is conducting robot tests while the future of talks with the US is uncertain. Tensions are also rising between the "nuclear weapons rivals" India and Pakistan. They believe that Iran may abandon the nuclear agreement and develop its own nuclear weapons.
It is a dark picture they sketch for the 74th meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York.
By 2020, more and even larger nuclear control agreements will be negotiated. In particular, those who signed the petition point out the armor and modernization of nuclear weapons in North Korea, the United States, Russia, India and Pakistan.
Nuclear weapons generals and ministersFrom the Nuclear Weapons State of the United Kingdom, General John McColl and at least five former British Defense Ministers, a former Security Minister and the Navy commander, have signed the petition.
From the Nuclear Weapons State of France, retired General Bernard Norlain, retired Admiral Alain Coldefy and Conservative politician Pierre Lellouche, who was previously Foreign Minister and former President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, have signed the petition.
Also NATO's former secretary general Javier Solana has signed.