Russia and United States "nuclear transparency" commended by WCC
Russian President Medvedev, Czech President Klaus and US President Obama at Prague Castle. Photo: Chuck Kennedy/White House
"The new US-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty signed today in Prague is news that the World Council of Churches has awaited for a long time: the achievement of a nuclear weapons agreement between the two most heavily armed nations in the world," WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said, commenting on the signing of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and US President Barack Obama in Prague, 8 April 2010.
Tveit stressed that "the most promising element of their success is in also agreeing to be more open about their respective nuclear arsenals. If the world’s most powerful states practice new levels of nuclear transparency and verification, as we hope they will, they will be able to bring new leadership and hope to bear on a range of nuclear arms problems."
Full text of the statement by the WCC general secretary
WCC project: Churches engaged for nuclear arms control
WCC Central Committee, September 2009: Statement of hope in a year of opportunity: seeking a nuclear-weapon-free world
