Nunn’s Open Letter to Presidents Trump and Putin

Posted June 28, 2017

Former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, former Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, former British Defense Secretary Des Browne, and former German Ambassador to the United States Wolfgang Ischinger have published an “open letter" to President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin.

With relations between Russia and the West deteriorating and becoming more dangerous every day, former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn (a distinguished professor in the Georgia Tech Sam Nunn School of International Affairs), former Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, former British Defense Secretary Des Browne, and former German Ambassador to the United States Wolfgang Ischinger have written a letter to President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin. The letter urges the two leaders to use the July 7 - 8 G20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany, to work together on areas of existential common interest, chief among them reducing nuclear and other military risks and preventing catastrophic terrorist attacks. 

Nunn, Ivanov, Browne, and Ischinger recommend four urgent steps that can be taken now to “stop the downward spiral in relations and reduce real dangers,” including: a new Presidential Joint Declaration declaring that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought, a new NATO-Russia Military Crisis Management Group, a new joint initiative to prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction, and discussions on cyber dangers related to strategic warning systems and nuclear command and control.  The letter is being publicly released in Moscow, Europe, and Washington.

Nunn, Ivanov, Browne, and Ischinger recommend four urgent steps that can be taken now to “stop the downward spiral in relations and reduce real dangers,” including:  a new Presidential Joint Declaration declaring that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought, a new NATO-Russia Military Crisis Management Group, a new joint initiative to prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction, and discussions on cyber dangers related to strategic warning systems and nuclear command and control. The letter is being publicly released in Moscow, Europe and Washington.

Read the letter