WASHINGTON, October 16 (RIA Novosti) - Because the conflict in Ukraine involves the largest nuclear armed nations on both sides, there will be strong efforts to reach some sort of compromise between NATO and Russia, potentially leading to new opportunities for detente and disarmament, said Hans Blix, former International Atomic Energy Agency director and former UN Chief Weapons Inspector.
"As nuclear powers are involved on both sides, strong effort will be made to achieve some accommodation and to avoid direct armed confrontation between them and the risk of a serious escalation between nuclear armed states," said Blix of the Ukraine crisis at a Wednesday evening speech on nuclear disarmament.
Calling the conflict in Ukraine the "most acute and most dangerous for the moment" Blix continued that "the conclusion of the Cuban crisis in 1962 remains alive, that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought."
Many observers have noted the sharp decline in Russian relations with the West, since the relatively optimistic period around 2009 of a new START (Strategic Arms Reduction) treaty and talks of nuclear disarmament. Some analysts have commented on a new Cold War environment, and others have noted that, following the events and reactions to conflict in Ukraine, chilly relations should be expected between Russia and the West for the foreseeable future.
Blix commented that he is not so pessimistic about the prospects of renewed cooperation, and even a road back toward disarmament between the superpowers. He suggested that given the stakes involved in the conflict between nuclear superpowers, an accommodation can be reached to militarily contain NATO. "Just as the West rightly developed a policy of containment... against an expanding communist bloc, the Russian leadership may feel it is seeking the military containment of the NATO bloc that has crept ever closer up to the Russian border."
Blix believes such an accommodation of containing NATO could possibly be reached and set the stage for additional cooperation. "An optimistic thought would be, just as the recoiling from the brink of nuclear war in the Cuban crisis led the parties to a moment of detente in which the partial test ban was born in 1963, an accommodation after the Ukraine crisis might lead to a strong wish for renewed detente." Blix noted that the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty by both the United States and China would be "low hanging fruit," which would mark a positive step forward.
Relations between Russia and NATO have deteriorated amid the crisis in Ukraine. The alliance has repeatedly accused Russia of meddling in Ukraine's internal affairs, sending troops to Ukraine, and went as far as to claim that Moscow planned to invade Ukraine. However, none of these statements were supported with any evidence.
Russia has repeatedly expressed concern over NATO's increased military presence in its neighboring states.
