The nuclear powers must remember which commitments to build a nuclear-free world lie within the framework of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), Gorbachev said in an interview with the Japanese agency Kyodo. Having listed other important arms reduction treaties - the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles (INF), the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, the ex-President of the USSR called them components of one single system.

"And if you do not get at least one of these parts, the whole system can collapse. I hope that the leaders of Russia and the United States have the wisdom to prevent this, "said Gorbachev.

According to Kyodo, an 86-year-old politician is currently undergoing treatment for an unnamed disease.