’Global efforts key to nuke security’

This is the sixth of a series of interviews with ambassadors from countries participating in the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit on March 26 and 27. — ED.

By Park Si-soo

Russia said it believes international cooperation is crucial to contain existing threats to physical nuclear security, noting that it will play an active role in the upcoming nuclear security summit in Seoul.

The powerful member of the United Nations also urged all countries to “consistently implement” the 1540 resolution of the U.N. Security Council, a legal basis for countermeasures against the black market of weapons

of mass destruction and prevention of terrorists’ access to such weapons, related materials and technologies.

“Russia together with other countries is concerned with still existing threats to physical nuclear security in the world,” Russian Ambassador to South Korea Konstantin Vnukov told The Korea Times.

“In such conditions, the importance of international cooperation in this sphere (nuclear security) increases objectively, presupposing the fulfillment of requirements of national legislature, ensuring the confidentiality of information and not allowing access to it by criminals.”

The envoy said the inaugural summit of this kind in Washington in 2010 proved the common spirit of the international community in favor of further strengthening a “counter terrorist insurance net” with thorough monitoring of the circulation of nuclear materials and the highest security standards in related facilities.

He added his country is ready for “active and substantive” work during the Seoul summit with all concerned states that share the same goal and tasks of strengthening nuclear security.

The ambassador put great emphasis on international efforts in line with the 1540 resolution of the U.N. Security Council. Russia was one of the countries which initiated its adoption in 2004.

“The Russian Federation attaches great importance to the coordination of international efforts on the elimination of threats of nuclear terrorism,” Vnukov said. “We support the consistent implementation of the 1540 resolution of the U.N. Security Council by all countries.”

He expressed high expectations from the International Atomic Energy Agency’s role on nuclear security, saying it deserves “special attention.”

“The periodically renewed recommendations of the IAEA on the physical protection of nuclear material play an important role,” he said. “We are confident that these IAEA’s activities contribute to joint efforts on counteracting the threat of nuclear terrorism.”

He went on to say that the IAEA’s information on the illegal circulation of nuclear and radiological materials deserves special attention. “Russia has participated actively in information exchange and provided regularly relevant information,” the ambassador said.

He said strengthening multilateral regimes of export control is considered one of the most important instruments for combating the illegal circulation of nuclear materials and technologies.

The promotion of a multilateral approach to the nuclear fuel cycle, the diplomat said, will contribute to decreasing the risk of the proliferation of nuclear weapons and enhancing nuclear security in the world.

Asked about the safety of nuclear power plants following the worst nuclear disaster in Japan last year, Vnukov said Russia has executed “large-scale activities” in the framework of the IAEA to ensure the safe operation of nuclear power plants in seismic zones.