Trump spoke about “denuclearization”, but no nuclear country will give up its weapons — political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko
We are facing extremely difficult and important negotiations on the treaty limiting strategic offensive weapons, which expires next year. Ukrainian political analyst and director of the Penta Center for Political Studies, Volodymyr Fesenko, told OstroV about this.
“De facto, russia has already declared its readiness to extend the treaty, but the U.S. position is that China must also join it. This is where very complicated issues will arise, as well as agreements concerning the future prospects of limiting strategic offensive weapons. These discussions will take place only after the war between russia and Ukraine ends — if, of course, it ends. This will become one of the main topics in relations between the U.S. and russia”, - the expert noted.
According to Fesenko, Donald Trump’s recent statements about a “plan for the denuclearization of the U.S., russia, and China” are more of a political gesture than a realistic initiative.
“It’s a nice phrase, but there will be no real denuclearization. Back in the Gorbachev era, when he was concluding his perestroika, he offered the Americans and Reagan what could be called denuclearization. But the answer was: ‘it’s not the time for that’. And that’s telling. We have to be realistic”, - the political analyst emphasized.
According to the expert, “the two countries with the largest nuclear potential — the U.S. and russia — plus China, which is actively building up its arsenal, will not give up nuclear weapons. North Korea won’t either. In the end, no one will voluntarily part with their most powerful weapon”.
“Therefore, Trump’s beautiful phrase about denuclearization actually means only one thing — there is a need for negotiations on limiting strategic offensive weapons, that is, on nuclear weapons and their delivery systems. That’s what they will actually work on, but this by no means indicates a willingness to abandon nuclear arms”, - Volodymyr Fesenko summed up.
As for putin’s “nuclear statements”, the political analyst does not believe they deserve much attention.
“We didn’t hear anything new. The only thing worth noting — this is the first time putin spoke about it under Trump”, - he said.