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The Intellectual Legacy of Academician Andrei Sakharov and the Issues of Strategic Stability

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The Intellectual Legacy of Academician Andrei Sakharov and the Issues of Strategic Stability INTERNATIONAL LUXEMBOURG RUSSIAN FORUM ON PREVENTING ACADEMY NUCLEAR CATASTROPHE OF SCIENCES THE INTELLECTU AL LEG THE INTELLECTUAL LEGACY AC OF ACADEMICIAN ANDREI SAKHAROV Y OF AND THE ISSUES AC ADEMICIAN ANDREI SAKHAR OF STRATEGIC STABILITY Special Session of the Online Conference of the International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe OV AND THE ISSUES OF S TRA TEGIC ST ABILITY 2020 International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe THE INTELLECTUAL LEGACY OF ACADEMICIAN ANDREI SAKHAROV AND THE ISSUES OF STRATEGIC STABILITY Special Session of the Online Conference of the International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe 2020 ISBN 978-5-906532-15-2 CONTENTS 1. Viatcheslav KANTOR President of the International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe ...................................................................5 2. Alexander SERGEEV President, Russian Academy of Sciences ............................................................8 3. William PERRY Professor, Stanford University .........................................................................11 4. Vladimir LUKIN Deputy Chairman, Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation .........................................16 5. Alexey ARBATOV Head, Center for International Security, Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences .............................20 6. Ernest MONIZ Co-Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Nuclear Threat Initiative ......................23 7. Mikhail FEDOTOV Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation.....27 8. Sam NUNN Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors, Nuclear Threat Initiative ...................32 9. Mikhail SHVYDKOI Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation Proceedings of the Special Session of the Online Conference of the for International Cultural Cooperation ............................................................35 International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe 10. Frank von HIPPEL “The Intellectual Legacy of Academician Andrei Sakharov and the Senior Research Physicist and Professor Emeritus, School of Public Issues of Strategic Stability” / National Institute of Corporate Reform. – and International Affairs, Princeton University ...............................................39 2020. – 68 pages. 11. David HOLLOWAY Raymond A. Spruance Professor and Senior Fellow Emeritus, This booklet contains statements made by the participants of the Special Session of Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies, Stanford University ..........42 the Online Conference of the International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear 12. Vladimir DVORKIN Catastrophe “The Intellectual Legacy of Academician Andrei Sakharov and the Issues of Chairman, Organizing Committee of the International Luxembourg Forum ...46 Strategic Stability” that took place on July 15, 2020. The session was one of the first in a series of events to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Andrei Sakharov, 13. Roald SAGDEEV the world-famous Soviet physicist, thinker and human rights activist. The Conference was Distinguished Professor, University of Maryland .............................................48 attended by prominent scholars, experts, public figures and government officials dealing 14. William POTTER with nuclear safety, non-proliferation reductions and limitations of nuclear weapons. Director, James Martin Center for Non-Proliferation Studies ..........................51 15. Siegfried HECKER Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies, The official website of the International Luxembourg Forum: www.luxembourgforum.org Stanford University ..........................................................................................55 16. Richard GARWIN 978-5-906532-15-2 Emeritus Fellow, Thomas J. Watson Research Laboratory, International Business Machines Corporation .................................................57 17. Rose GOTTEMOELLER Frank E. And Arthur W. Payne Distinguished Lecturer, © International Luxembourg Forum Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies, Stanford University ..........59 on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe, 2020 18. Rodric BRAITHWAITE Honorary Doctor and Professor, University of Birmingham .............................61 INTRODUCTION Viatcheslav KANTOR President of the International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished colleagues! Good morning, good afternoon and good evening! In accordance with the Forum’s plans, even before the pandemic struck, we intended to hold a special session on the intellectual legacy of Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov as part of our conference on nuclear non-proliferation. This session forms part of the general preparatory plan for the 100th anniversary of Sakharov’s birth in May 2021. By way of information, let me tell you that yesterday [July 14, 2020] the online conference “The New Iranian Nuclear Crisis: Ending Escalation” was held. It resulted in the adoption of a rather robust declaration, which we traditionally present to the heads of the world’s leading states, the UN Security Council and other organizations. You will have the opportunity to look at it. Many hundreds, if not thousands of books, articles and films have been written or made about Andrei Sakharov’s life and the fundamental and applied results of his work, and about his human rights activities. Everyone knows about his three Hero of Socialist Labor titles, the laureate awards he received and which were then stripped from him and then reinstated, about the Nobel Peace Prize, his tireless protection of convicted writers, poets, artists (Sinyavsky, Daniel, and others), about 5 THE INTELLECTUAL LEGACY OF ACADEMICIAN ANDREI SAKHAROV AND THE ISSUES OF STRATEGIC STABILITY VIATCHESLAV KANTOR his calls to end the war in Afghanistan, his exile in Gorki, his return, his his human rights activities, his participation in two Congresses of draft Constitution, and his hard work in Moscow. And these are merely People’s Deputies of the Soviet Union after his return to Moscow, snippets of all that he did. His philosophical and social science articles his statements that were drowned out by “an aggressively obedient were unique in the Soviet Union. majority” (as the famous writer Afanasyev said), and about his draft He penned the article Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence Constitution. and Intellectual Freedom, in which he developed the ideas of But it is important and interesting to hear what the most famous convergence between socialism and capitalism, and which he sent to and authoritative participants of our online session who knew Brezhnev in the 1960s. But to no avail. That is a very powerful lesson Sakharov or the stories of his associates have to say about him today. for the government: you must heed scientists! I am not one of them, but as an anecdote I can tell you how The depth and rigor of his scientific, philosophical and humanist I stood next to him in a queue of 10-12 people in a store. He was convictions were so important, so powerful and central for Andrei recognized and invited to skip the queue, but he refused. I remember Sakharov that he openly voiced his position, which fully contradicted his conversation with the saleswoman, in which for some reason he the basic principles of the prevailing Soviet ideology and practice. repeatedly used the word ‘coffee’ in the neuter gender – which, strictly He clearly understood the consequences this would have on his speaking, is a mistake in Russian. Then I thought – wouldn’t it be fate, but did not attach any importance to them. Nevertheless, he had wonderful if the only mistake we made in life were one like that. to endure an incredible amount of slander, mudslinging, accusations Thank you for your attention. of treason, the damning article in Pravda written by forty academics, another one by Soviet writers in the same newspaper... etc. He set out his humanist views in writing already in 1955, as nuclear weapons were being created: The main thing for me was the inner conviction that this work was necessary. The monstrous destructive force, the tremendous efforts required for its development, the means taken from a poor, hungry war-torn country, the human victims of hazardous industries and forced labor camps – all this emotionally reinforced the sense of tragedy, it made one think and work in such a way that the sacrifices would not have been in vain. My most passionate dream is that thermonuclear weapons will deter war, but never be used. The last sentence is essentially a forerunner to the theory and principles of strategic stability. Let me repeat once again – as a result of countless publications, almost everything is known about his childhood, his studies, his work during the war, his achievements in creating the hydrogen bomb, 6 7 THE INTELLECTUAL LEGACY OF ACADEMICIAN ANDREI SAKHAROV AND THE ISSUES OF STRATEGIC STABILITY ALEXANDER SERGEEV Alexander SERGEEV The second qualitative point, in my opinion, has to do with the current situation when it probably must be admitted that President of the Russian Academy of Sciences; everywhere in the whole world, and in the countries represented by Academician, RAS the participants of this event as well, there has been a decrease in vigilance with regard to war. New generations of young people know nothing about war,
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