P5 Roundtable on Nuclear Risk Reduction

Geneva Centre for Security Policy and SFG co-hosted a roundtable on Nuclear Risk Reduction in Geneva on 16-17 March 2023. It was supported by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. The long-term support to the P5 Initiative is provided by the Future of Life Institute/Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

The participants in the roundtable included leading arms control experts from the United States, Russia, China, UK and France. It was a rare meeting of experts from the P5 countries in person. As the P5 meetings will continue in the future, GCSP and SFG have created a unique track-two dialogue on nuclear risk reduction for the P5 countries.

Prior to the roundtable, GCSP and SFG held consultations with Bruce Turner, US Disarmament Ambassador, and Andrey Belousov, Russian Disarmament Ambassador, as well as diplomatic representatives of other P5 countries.

Beatrice Fihn, who received the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, was the dinner guest at the opening of the conference. She emphasized the humanitarian cost of potential nuclear attacks and the illegality of nuclear weapons due to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

The roundtable discussed several nuclear risk reduction measures, including no-first use, taking nuclear warheads off alert status, notification of missile launches and reliable communication channels.

There was a particular focus on nuclear risk arising from the interface between artificial intelligence, cybertechnology and nuclear weapons. Such an interface has led to hypersonic missile race, unmanned underwater vehicles, risk of manipulation of early warning systems and potential for a race in space weapons. The participating experts considered all nuclear risks to be alarming on the background of growing geo-political tensions. It is therefore decided to continue the expert dialogue later in 2023.