Today, PIR Center celebrates the 95th anniversary of an outstanding Soviet diplomat, scientist, one of the main mentors of the PIR Center for more than 20 years – Amb. Roland Timerbaev. He was one of the world's largest experts in the field of nuclear nonproliferation, a diplomat who made a tremendous contribution to the preparation of the 1968 Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), a key document of the global security system. 

We continue to publish materials on the X NPT Review Conference under the rubric "Notes from the Field: 10th NPT Review Conference through the Eyes of Russian Public Diplomacy". This time, PIR Center Deputy Director Elena Karnaukhova talked to Ambassador Sergio Duarte, the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs (2007-2012), the Brazilian representative to several International organizations, focusing on disarmament issues, the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the IAEA (1999-2000). He served the Brazilian Foreign Service for 48 years: the Ambassador of Brazil in a number of countries, including Austria, Croatia, Slovakia and Slovenia concurrently (1999-2002), China (1996-1999), Canada (1993-1996), and Nicaragua (1986-1991), Switzerland (1979-1986), the United States (1970-1974), Argentina (1963-1966), and Rome (1961-1963). Sergio Duarte stood at the origins of the NPT and was familiar with Roland Timerbaev.

"Once we went on a trip with my friend and our families. Rented a rickety old hut in the village, the electricity worked poorly, but there was a lot of firewood. We heated the stove, collected mushrooms, wandered through the swamps, caught crayfish with children in the icy water. There were a lot of impressions, but, unfortunately, the weather had deteriorated. I decided not to stop the trip, to go to the sea. It was difficult to keep the idea a secret and put the children to bed after intense adventures, I had to tell them.

Then, many years later, the children said the words most dear to my wife and me: "Parents, how happy we are that you are so crazy"," - Dmitry Danilov, Head of European Security Department at Institute of Europe, Russian Academy of Sciences.

PIR Center continues to publish materials on the X NPT Review Conference under the rubric "Notes from the Field: 10th NPT Review Conference through the Eyes of Russian Public Diplomacy". PIR Center Deputy Director Elena Karnaukhova talked to Ambassador Hamad Al Kaabi, Permanent Representative of the UAE to the IAEA, about the assessments of the X NPT RevCon, politization of review process, China's positions, Ukraine, the WMD-free zone in the Middle East, JCPOA, UAE in nuclear domain and cooperation with Russia.