On June 7, representatives of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and the Arms Control Association, among others, have addressed a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden, urging them to launch a dialogue on strategic stability and to confirm the statement that a nuclear war must never be fought.
“We hope that your summit on June 16 in Geneva will help to rebuild mutual respect and cooperation between the United States and the Russian Federation,” the open letter said. “In their cooperation to create the 1968 Nonproliferation Treaty, your predecessors limited the spread of the most dangerous weapons ever invented and committed to their ultimate elimination. And you, President Putin and President Biden, have shown the same determination by extending New START, the most significant remaining bilateral arms control treaty. We appeal to you to show the same courage and sense of urgency again when you meet in Geneva.”
It urged the Presidents to “Reaffirm the joint statement of Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan: ‘A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.’” They also appealed to the Putin and Biden “Commit to a bilateral strategic dialogue that is regular, frequent, comprehensive and result oriented leading to further reduction of the nuclear risk hanging over the world and to the re-discovery of the road to a world free of nuclear weapons.”
