-  Final as delivered -

Mr Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the EU and its Member States

The Candidate Countries North Macedonia^*, Montenegro^*, Albania^*, and the Republic of Moldova, the country of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidate Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Andorra, Monaco and San Marino align themselves with this statement.

In this statement I would like to emphasize some general positions with regard the resolution L.66, “Strengthening and developing the system of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation treaties and agreements” presented by the Russian Federation.

Mr. Chair,

The EU Member States are fully committed to upholding and strengthening the global arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation architecture. However, the circumstances under which this respective resolution has been presented are deeply concerning.

The EU provides and will continue to provide significant political and financial support to multilateral institutions to uphold and strengthen international treaties and agreements, promoting universal adherence to it and helping to build capacities in partner countries for effective treaty implementation. Even if the rules-based international system is confronted with multiple challenges, the EU will remain a strong, consistent and reliable partner of the UN. We call on all UN Member States to demonstrate their support for multilateral cooperation in these critical times, not only in words but principally through actions.

As we face one of the most significant challenges to global peace and security – Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine – upholding the rules-based international order established in the UN Charter is more important than ever. Threats to the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of any State, under any pretext, are a concern for us all. To allow this to go unchallenged would mean accepting an international order based on the use of force.

Russia's unjustifiable, unprovoked and illegal war of aggression is an affront to everything we work for here. The resolution L.66 is no exception. While the resolution "urges all States parties to arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation treaties and agreements to implement all provisions of such treaties and agreements in their entirety", Russia, as its main sponsor, is also currently the biggest violator of the norms that constitute the arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation architecture. 

By its aggression against Ukraine Russia obviously committed the following violations (to name a few):

• Russia has repeatedly issued reckless nuclear rhetoric, which runs counter Russia’s commitments and is completely unacceptable. We condemn this behaviour in the strongest possible terms and we urge Russia to stick to the commitments taken by leaders of the nuclear weapon states in January 2022.
• Russia has violated the security guarantees of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum.
• Russia, through its occupation of the Zaporizhzhia NPP and its military operations in the vicinity of civilian nuclear facilities, has violated IAEA norms on nuclear safety and security.
• Russia has used Anti-Personnel Land Mines and Cluster Munitions in clear contradiction of IHL as well as of relevant instruments on conventional weapons, such as the CCW for instance.

The propaganda and dissemination of unfounded claims by Russia only aim at further undermining the existing norms. We have seen these ill-intended efforts by Russia in various disarmament fora, including the General Assembly First Committee, the Conference on Disarmament (CD), the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction (CWC) and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC). 

The resolution "expresses the need to maintain the effectiveness and efficiency as well as the consensus-based nature of the relevant multilateral instruments in the field of disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control". However, Russia abuses the rule of consensus. It turns it into a veto power to block any developments and strengthening of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation treaties and agreements. This was the case at the Tenth Review Conference of the NPT, where Russia – single-handed and isolated - blocked the adoption of the outcome document and also at the Conference on Disarmament.

Mr Chair,

We are also gravely concerned about some other states' continued non-compliance with their international obligations in the areas of disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control. The international community must ensure accountability, end impunity for violations, and uphold global norms. Ending impunity and ensuring accountability is crucial to restoring the integrity of the established norms. However, we regret that these issues relating to compliance have not been included in the draft by the main sponsor of the L.66 resolution.

The repeated attempts by a few States, including Russia, to challenge the authority and integrity of international organizations, such as the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), including in the debates during this First Committee, are deeply concerning. The EU continues to support the OPCW diplomatically, technically and financially to ensure the full and effective implementation of and universal adherence to the CWC. We have full confidence that the Director-General and the Technical Secretariat of the OPCW are fulfilling their duties in a professional, objective and impartial manner. In this context, we denounce the Syrian Arab Republic's continued violation of its obligations as a State Party to the CWC as well as any use of chemical weapons.

The EU and its Member States remain firmly united in promotion of strengthening and developing the system of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation treaties and agreements, as the title of L.66 suggests. Yet, at the same time, we remain united in denouncing Russia's gross violations of the very principles of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation that Russia claims to promote.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

* North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Albania continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.