Mr Medvedev said in his telegram:
“Striving for lofty ideals has always been one of the forces driving humanity’s development. The goal of ridding the world of nuclear weapons, which your authoritative forum pursues, is unquestionably one of these noble ideals. By actively facilitating the search for ways to achieve nuclear disarmament you not only contribute to global security and stability, but also to social progress.
Progress towards a nuclear-free world is one of Russia’s foreign policy goals too. Fully conscious of its share of responsibility in this process, the Russian Federation is making broad reductions to its nuclear forces. The signature of the New START Treaty with the United States of America in April 2010 was an important step in this process. In accordance with the spirit and letter of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the New START Treaty makes real, verifiable and irreversible cuts to nuclear arms and their means of delivery. The treaty’s implementation will give practical reinforcement to our world’s strategic stability.
This new Russian-US treaty is a major milestone on the road to a world free of nuclear weapons. But achieving this noble goal will require much more effort yet to come. One of the main tasks at the current stage is to involve all countries with military nuclear arsenals in the disarmament process, and your work will be of great help in this”.
The President wished the conference, which is taking place in London on June 22–23, fruitful and successful work.
The international Global Zero movement launched in December 2008 includes more than 300 political, military, business, faith and civic leaders — and hundreds of thousands of citizens — working for the phased, verified elimination of all nuclear weapons worldwide.