El Tratado de No Proliferación Nuclear —NPT, por sus siglas en inglés— cumple 50 años este 5 de marzo. A pesar de su edad venerable, el acuerdo no pierde actualidad en nuestros días, opina Vladímir Orlov, jefe del Centro de Problemas Globales de la Academia Diplomática del Ministerio de Exteriores de Rusia, consultado por Sputnik.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is half a century old today. “The NPT Instruments of Ratification were submitted by two of the NPT Depositary States, the Soviet Union and the United States, at a special ceremony at The Reception House in Moscow,” the Izvestiya newspaper reported on its front page on March 5, 1970. Under the terms of NPT Article IX, the Treaty entered into force on the same day following the submission of the Instruments of Ratification by the three depositary states (the Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom) and 40 other State Parties. “Our goal is to keep the future generations safe from the calamity of war,” the Soviet prime minister Aleksey Kosygin announced at the ceremony.

In preparation for the 2020 NPT Review Conference, one inevitably has to face a question: how to reinvigorate the review process, taking into account both the 1995 decision on strengthening of the review process and a quarter-century experience in between 1995 and now. 

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference kicks off in less than 6 months’ time. Both Russia and the United States are on the final stretch of their respective preparations for that key international security event. Our two countries bear special responsibility. First, the Treaty designates them (and the United Kingdom) as the NPT depositary states; they are the guardians of the Treaty’s letter, so to speak. Second – and most important – between the two of them, Russia and the United States control over 92 per cent of the world’s nuclear weapons, thereby retaining their status as nuclear superpowers. Of course, the world has changed since the NPT entered into force back in 1970. Some superpowers have collapsed, only to be succeeded by others... but in nuclear matters, the bipolar world order has not changed much since the Cold War. In an era of dangerous erosion of international norms, the NPT remains the cornerstone of the global security architecture. Are Russia and the United States ready to work responsibly and cooperatively for the sustainability of the Treaty?

Helsinki is a chance – not even for a breakthrough, but for some light at the end of the tunnel. It’s a chance to leave the ‘crisis management’ phase behind, a chance to start defusing the confrontation and mending fences. A chance to send a signal to the rest of the world. The world is waiting.