Tell President Biden: Work with Putin to End Nuclear Weapons June 9, 2021

This action alert is no longer active

Vice President Joe Biden greets Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at the Russian White House, in Moscow, Russia, March 10, 2011.
(Official White House Photo by David Lienemann).

President Biden is set to hold a summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 16 in Geneva, and the stakes are high. “Strategic stability” is on the agenda. Will you send a loud and clear message to Biden that in this meeting, he must work with Putin to put the world on the path to nuclear weapons abolition?

Nuclear weapons do nothing to make us secure, and of course the U.S. nuclear arsenal could not protect us from Covid-19. It’s time for the whole world to turn the corner on nukes, and that could start this month. These summits are few and far between.

On June 7, an open-letter “Appeal” to Presidents Putin and Biden was delivered to their governments, calling on the two Presidents to commence an ongoing strategic dialogue to “re-discover the road to a world free of nuclear weapons.” The Appeal was organized by PSR’s affiliate, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, plus Pugwash and the Arms Control Association, and signed by 34 Russian and U.S. experts and representatives of organizations, including PSR. Now it is your turn to encourage Biden to make the most of the Geneva summit.

While campaigning, Biden said “The use of even one nuclear weapon would be catastrophic” and “there would be no ‘winners’ in a nuclear exchange.” So true! Then, within the first 10 days of his presidency, Biden worked with President Putin to extend the New START treaty for five years. So we know that Biden shares our concern about nuclear weapons.

However, the first budget from the Biden administration includes funding for every nuclear weapon that the Trump administration favored. Clearly, Biden still needs convincing—and with the nuclear weapons threat, he can’t keep “kicking the can down the road.” Please follow this link to craft your personal message to Biden.