Nuclear powers must stop building up their arsenals. Nuclear rearmament is not the path to take, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said at the Munich Security Conference.
The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) between Russia and the United States expired on February 5. US Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Thomas DiNano announced on February 6 that US President Donald Trump intends to seek a new arms control agreement, as START was imperfect and did not cover the People's Republic of China.
“The nuclear powers have forgotten the lessons of the past and are once again expanding their arsenals... I humbly ask all these powers to sit down at the negotiating table and sign a new agreement to ensure the continuation of what has just expired“, said the prime minister, speaking at the 62nd Security Conference in the Bavarian capital.
The Spanish prime minister recalled that 70 years ago, world leaders concluded that nuclear deterrence was “too expensive and too risky“ a method of preventing conflict. He stressed that such a strategy requires colossal public investment and has repeatedly led to dangerous failures that could lead to open nuclear conflict between the West and the former Soviet Union.
Sánchez believes that the risks of nuclear deterrence outweigh its contribution to maintaining peace. He noted that the total cost of nuclear weapons exceeds $11 million per hour, while experts estimate US investment in nuclear forces at $946 billion.