UK and US plan to extend nuclear cooperation agreement indefinitely
Kyiv • UNN
The United Kingdom and the United States intend to indefinitely extend the 1958 Treaty on Mutual Defense and Nuclear Cooperation. This decision is related to the global arms race provoked by Russia's war in Ukraine.
The United Kingdom and the United States plan to indefinitely extend the 1958 mutual defense treaty, which provides for cooperation in the field of nuclear weapons, the Financial Times reports, UNN reports.
Details
According to the official recommendations of the UK and US governments, which must be ratified by both sides at the legislative level, the mutual defense agreement cancels the previous 10-year term and follows the UN warning that Russia's war in Ukraine has provoked a global nuclear arms race.
Reportedly, the ships built by the UK and Australia and deployed by the Australian Navy will be equipped with the latest American technology, but will not carry nuclear weapons.
"The consolidation of the (US and UK - ed.) agreements on the sharing of nuclear weapons on a permanent basis is a rather significant change in their relationship. It provides a permanent basis for modernizing the UK's nuclear deterrent," said David Cullen, director of the British think tank Nuclear Information Service.
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First signed in 1958 and extended several times since then, the treaty is the centerpiece of the "special relationship" between the United Kingdom and the United States and is considered a unique agreement among nuclear-weapon states.
The pact was last extended in 2014 for a 10-year term, which expires in December. The treaty allows for the exchange of nuclear technology and information, but not nuclear weapons or control over them. According to officials, the agreement helps ensure the safety of the two countries' nuclear weapons and nuclear engines.
The amended treaty will be automatically approved if neither the House of Commons nor the House of Lords passes a resolution against ratification within 21 business days.
According to the Financial Times, analysts say that the proposed extension of the treaty is a sign of increasingly dangerous times, and that the UK has an additional benefit: it can guarantee the continuation of the agreement regardless of the position of any future US government.
