CND Press Digest: Friday 16th June 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• “Russia must know that a nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought,” NATO boss Jens Stoltenberg said during a meeting of the Aliiance’s defence ministers in Brussels on Thursday.
• The Norwegian also told press that the decision by Russia to station nuclear weapons in Belarus did not mean Moscow had changed its nuclear posture, and NATO would not be required to change its own.
• IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has visited Zaporizhzhia, saying the situation at the plant  is “serious” and that ensuring water for cooling was a priority of his visit, adding that the station could operate safely for “some time”. Watch Grossi’s comments here.

New START

• “The suspension of New START remains in effect and this decision may be revoked or reconsidered only if the US demonstrates a willingness to abandon its fundamentally hostile policy toward the Russian Federation,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Thursday. 

AUKUS

• Watch: Sky News Australia on the split between the ruling Labor party on the issue of AUKUS.
• That’s as PM Anthony Albanese said he won’t let the revolt by rank-and-file members get in the way of AUKUS support by his government. 

UK Nuclear Energy

• Hinkley Point C is spending over £2 million at Pontins Brean Sands Holiday Park,where hundreds of workers will be living over the next three years.
• Radiation Free Lakeland looks at the current heatwave taking place across Britain and the “profligate use of our stressed freshwater resource” by the nuclear industry.

North Korea

• South Korea on Friday said it had successfully retrieved a large chunk of a north Korean space rocket from the sea floor following a 15 day salvage operation. Pyongyang attempted to launch a spy satellite last month but the rocket failed in its second stage.
• A US nuclear-powered submarine docked in the South Korean port city of Busanon Friday, the first time such a vessel has paid a visit to the country in six years. It comes as North Korea fired two short-range missiles on Thursday in response to US-South Korean military drills.

Iran Nuclear Deal

• US and Iranian officials have said that both countries are holding talks to sketch out some limits on Iran’s nuclear programme, unfreeze Iranian assets abroad, and secure the release of US citizens detained in Iran.
• That’s as Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has spoken out against any unwritten Iran nuclear deal between Tehran and Washington, and attacked the Israeli government for its “colossal failure” to stop any agreement from being made.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament