Putin calls for building nuclear-weapon-free world

Russia, as a responsible party to and one of the depositaries of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), strictly abides by the letter and spirit of the treaty, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an address to the 11th NPT Review Conference on Wednesday.

"We believe that amid the current complex international situation, additional multilateral efforts are required to create conditions for further progress on the path to building a nuclear-weapon-free world, while strictly upholding the principle of not compromising the security of any party," Putin said in a statement read out by Andrey Ivanovich Belousov, ambassador-at-large of the Russian Foreign Ministry, at the conference at the UN headquarters in New York.

Russia, as a leader in nuclear energy, stands ready to develop cooperation in this field with interested NPT parties, the statement noted.

Moscow holds that countries conscientiously fulfilling their NPT obligations are entitled to peaceful nuclear energy access without undue restrictions, it said.

Putin stressed that greater efforts are needed to create conditions for advancing toward a world free of nuclear weapons amid a challenging global security environment.

Russia expects the conference to be productive and contribute to global nuclear non-proliferation regime, the statement added.

The 11th NPT Review Conference started on Monday and will last until May 22.