Dismantle all nukes before they bury world civilization, Gorbachev says

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has criticized the United States for doing too little to help realize the goal of total nuclear disarmament.

“When we talk about nuclear weapons and what’s to be done about them, the answer is to get rid of them,” he said in a video interview with the CTBTO Preparatory Commission, AFP reported on Monday.

“The country with super-armament, i.e., military superiority over all others, is still America. And they are avoiding that issue… setting it aside,” he added.

The CTBTO Preparatory Commission is an international organization based in Vienna, Austria that is tasked with preparing the activities of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), including building, certifying, and operating the infrastructure for detection of nuclear tests, preparing regulations for the CTBTO, and stimulating entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

In the video, which was made on September 4, Gorbachev noted that nuclear-weapon states currently possess an estimated 20,000 warheads and said, “It’s enough to bury our civilization in a few days, literally.”

“The current situation must not be allowed to continue… the treaty on the complete cessation of nuclear testing must become effective,” he urged.

The video was posted on the CTBTO Preparatory Commission’s website on Monday ahead of the anniversary of a key 1986 Reykjavik Summit between Gorbachev and then US President Ronald Reagan.

At the summit in Reykjavik, Iceland, the Cold War opponents discussed total nuclear disarmament but the talks collapsed over President Reagan’s refusal to abandon his Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).