Homeland Security

CONVENTION ON FIGHTING NUCLEAR TERROR TO BE A MIGHTY WEAPON OF INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

RIA Novosti

MOSCOW, April 13 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hopes that all the countries will join the convention of fighting nuclear terror. RIA Novosti cites him as saying this in Moscow on Wednesday.

Lavrov recalled that on Wednesday the UN General Assembly will consider the draft Convention on the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism.

"The draft has already won the consensus approval at the sitting of the UN ad-hoc antiterrorist committee on April 1. The initiative, advanced by Russia almost eight years ago, was approved actually unchanged", Lavrov said.

He stressed that it is the first international accord adopted at the Russian initiative and having a preemptive nature. "Today the threat of weapons of mass destruction getting into the hands of terrorists is on everybody's lips", Lavrov said.

Adoption of this document places on a sound legal basis the struggle against the main threats to mankind - terrorism and the spread of weapons of mass destruction, he said.

"This document clearly obliges the states to act according to the principle 'extradite or put to trial', as well as provides for concrete steps to be taken against those suspected of such crimes. It also provides for the measures to be taken by states to eliminate the effects of a possible terrorist act with the use of nuclear or another radioactive weapons, as well as for the return of radioactive substances to the country where it has been stolen", Lavrov said.

He stressed that work in this direction will be done in close interaction with members of the convention and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"We hope that, with consensus in place, all the countries will join the convention as soon as it is open for signing and promptly ratify it", Lavrov said.