COMMITTEE: HISTORICAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 1993

COUNTRY: REPUBLIC OF BELARUS

AGENDA: NUCLEAR TESTING

After the atrocities caused by nuclear weapons in WWii, the whole world has seen the ability of nuclear
weapons. Many nations consider producing, maintaining and upgrading nuclear weapons by replacing the
conventional weapons for their national security and other measures. If a timeline is drawn on the usage
of nuclear weapons, it will only show destructions and radioactive aftereffects in every possible form.
Keeping that in mind, Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, formally Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons Tests in the
Atmosphere, in Outer Space, and Under Water, treaty signed in Moscow on Aug. 5, 1963, by the United
States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom that banned all tests of nuclear weapons except those
conducted underground.
1

At the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Soviet nuclear weapons were deployed in four of the new
republics: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. In May 1992, these four states signed the Lisbon
Protocol, agreeing to join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, with Russia the
successor to the Soviet Union as a nuclear state, and the other three states joining as non-nuclear states.
2

When the Soviet Union dissolved in December 1991, one of the issues was the fate of its nuclear
weapons. Most were in the territory of Russia, the recognized successor state to the Soviet Union, but
some were in the territories of Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. In July 1991, the Soviet Union had
signed the START I nuclear disarmament treaty. Russia, as the successor state, would not be able to fulfill
the terms of the treaty until all of the other states possessing Soviet nuclear weapons had either destroyed
those weapons or transferred them to Russian control. The United States and Russia applied diplomatic
pressure to the other three Soviet successor nuclear states to agree to eliminate their arsenals or transfer
them to Russian control.
Belarus is proud to declare that START I has been ratified very recently (February 4, 1993)
3
and it is
expected that all the nuclear weapons would be transferred to Russia by 1997.
Belarus has signed Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1991. Since then the nuclear weapons that were
deployed in Belarus are being transferred to Russia. As the weapons are categorized into Nuclear,
Chemical, Biological and Ballistic Missiles, it has also been assured that Belarus does not have any
biological or chemical weapons. No operationally deployed ICBMs remain in Belarus either.




1
Encyclopedia Britannica
2
Arms Control Association website: "The Lisbon Protocol at a Glance" http://www.armscontrol.org/node/3289
3
National Archives and Records Administration, www.archives.gov


Recommendations:
1. The leading nations in nuclear testing should reduce the stockpiles through such range that they
are numerically comparable with other nuclear states.
2. Improvement of radio communication for ensuring physical protection of facilities with
dangerous nuclear material.
3. Controversies regarding cases like the Vela Incident
4
(Double flash) should be accounted for
cleared off any doubt and confusions. Proper investigations and publication of necessary data
should be mandatory.




4
[Albright and Zamora 1991] David Albright and Tom Zamora. 1991. "South Africa flirts with the NPT", The
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January/February 1991,
http://www.bullatomsci.org/issues/1991/jf91/jf91albright.html.