CND Press Digest: Monday 20th February 2023
Posted: 20th February 2023
War In Ukraine/NATO
- Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Kiev on Monday, on route to a scheduled trip to Poland. The comes just days out from the first anniversary of the Russian invasion.
- China is expected to unveil a peace plan for Ukraine this week - which has been met with cautious optimism by Ukraine’s allies as recognition by Beijing means they consider that the conflict is not just a European affair.
- That’s as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggested China is on the brink of supplying lethal aid to Russia, as well as helping Moscow evade sanctions. The suggestion was met with a rebuke by China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi.
- Speaking on the side of the Munich Security Conference, Polish president Andrzej Duda told the Financial Times that NATO will need to provide some form of security guarantees to Ukraine once the conflict with Russia is over.
- The Telegraph has an editorial: Vladimir Putin’s energy war has utterly failed.
- Russia has made unsubstantiated claims that Ukraine is planning a false flag nuclear incident with the aim of blaming it on Moscow. “The aim of the provocation is to accuse Russia’s army of allegedly carrying out indiscriminate strikes on hazardous radioactive facilities in Ukraine, leading to the leakage of radioactive substances and contamination of the area,” a Russian defence ministry statement said.
British nuclear weapons
- HMS Anson, an Astute-class nuclear-powered submarine has BAE Systems in Barrow, the vessel will be based on the Clyde.
UK Nuclear Energy
- Grant Shapps gave his first interview as energy minister to The Times, saying he will visit countries over the next couple of months in an attempt to drum up investment in funding nuclear projects. He adds: “I think it was wrong of us to stop investing in nuclear…Labour did it for political reasons because they didn’t like nuclear for a large part of their existence. Perhaps because of the coalition government as well, which wasn’t super-keen on nuclear, we weren’t able to progress even when the Conservatives came in. So it’s taken a while but we’re on the right track.”
- The Telegraph reports on the cash crunch facing Sizewell C as in-debt developer EDF seeks additional emergency funding from former partner in the project – China General Nuclear (CGN) – despite Beijing’s involvement being wound down. EDF noted: “The probability that CGN will not fund the project after it has reached its committed equity cap is high. In the event that CGN would not allocate voluntary equity, the EDF Group would be required to contribute in place of CGN.”
North Korea
- North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles on Monday – its second launch in three days. It followed an ICBM launch on Friday – a warning by Pyongyang against the US and South Korea conducting joint military drills – which it sees as a rehearsal for an invasion.
Iran Nuclear Deal
- From Reuters: The IAEA has found “uranium enriched to 84 percent in Iran – very close to weapons grade - diplomats said on Monday, while the watchdog said that it was in talks with Tehran about recent findings there.”
- Meanwhile Israel said on Friday that “all possible means” were on the table when it came to preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
Best,
Pádraig McCarrick
Press and Communications Officer
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
