UN General Assembly
1976

180. At the last session of the General Assembly, the Soviet Union proposed the conclusion of an international agreement which would preclude the development and production of new types and new systems of weapons of mass destruction, Some have asked how you can prohibit something that does not yet exist. However, since the very beginning of the discussion of this matter in the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament in Geneva, it has become evident that there is here a subject for serious discussion. It is vastly more difficult to agree on the elimination of those types of weapons which have already been supplied to armies. The Soviet Union believes that everything possible must be done to prevent the development of new types and systems of weapons of mass destruction. 181. Conventional types of weapons are not normally included among weapons of mass annihilation. But modern tanks, aircraft, cannon and even small arms have been perfected to such a degree that they have actually become instruments capable of wiping out great masses of people.