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The article deals with the role of the UN Security Council in addressing critical issues of regional disarmament: the elimination of Syrian chemical weapons program; the ensuring of the exclusively peaceful character of Iran's nuclear activities; denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. It is argued that the enforcement action, coupled with political and diplomatic facilities, could bring about positive results, including the resolution of intricate arms control problems, and help to develop innovative disarmament schemes, if the UN member states were able to combine their efforts and interact firmly and purposefully within the framework of the UN Security Council. Threats to the survival of mankind, such as the spread of mass destruction weapons, terrorism and virulent diseases around the world, as well as various other strategic challenges make it all the more urgent to secure the appropriate collective action of the whole world community under the auspices of the UNO. Taking full advantage of the unique legal authority of the UN Security Council, its mechanisms and instruments to cope with crises of global security squarely meets this task. Suggestions on the strengthening of the UNSC's central coordinating role in managing international security and regulation of armaments in order to make this principal UN body a reliable guarantor of the world community's stability and humanity's progress along the path of arms reduction are substantiated in the paper.

The article analyses the UN Security Council's leverage to influence military-political processes related to arms control and counter-terrorism, highlighting the need to make fuller use of the UNSC enforcement potential. The author puts forward specific proposals for a more thorough involvement of the UNSC in the global activities to counter WMD proliferation and terrorism in order to improve global governance of international security and to guarantee progress of humanity on the path of sustainable peace and arms reduction. It is argued that Russia, with its traditions in defence of peace and disarmament, is in a position to assume leadership in working out arrangements aimed at efficient functioning of this principal decision-making authority of the international community for managing international security.

The goal of the present research is to demonstrate the main, significant componentry of the North Korean political and economic system, as well as to educe the most important factors which currently maintain its relative stability and may undergo serious tests in any version of transformation of the present totalitarian, command-and-control regime closed from the outer world.

As a factor of political and military stability the UN system exerts a significant impact on the global processes associated with attempts at peacemaking, disarmament, non-proliferation and counter-terrorism. The vast majority of international legal instruments in the field of arms control and the fight against terrorism have been elaborated and adopted in the framework of the UN institutions or with their active assistance. In the future, the deliberative and negotiating UN "floors" are likely to develop new global conventions in the field of disarmament and countering terrorism. Within the context of deepening the general trend towards positive transformation of international relations this opens a window of opportunity in the sphere of improvement of treaty regimes on arms control and strengthening security through UN institutions. Over the projected period the conclusion of new treaties in this area (such as NPT, BTWC and CWC) it is still not timely. However, an effective work of the international mechanism may provide progress towards concluding agreements on new significant measures. A skillful use of the UN system tools would weaken the trend of de-regulation and erosion of military-political relations and open additional opportunities to reduce the military burden and to send the saved resources to build-up of the "soft power" (economic modernization, science and culture, enhancing ideological attractiveness). The author discusses the following directions of enhancing positive effects on the military-political processes through UN institutions: stabilization of the NPT regime and ensuring compliance enforcement of non-proliferation; actions through an international mechanism is needed to implement the goals of the CWC; opportunities to strengthen the BTWC regime through international control; on counter-terrorism activities; role of the UN in the prevention of armed conflict and peacekeeping.

The eighth Review Conference of the States – parties to the Treaty on Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons was held in New York on 3-28 May 2010. It was attended by a total of 172 states. The Conference became the most representative, authoritative and effective international forum in recent years specially devoted to key issues of nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. The Conference ended by a consensus adoption of the substantive document containing a platform for action of the NPT member states to ensure the effective implementation of the Treaty in the five-year period. It was adopted in the format of a plan embracing 64 "actions" and reflected a real shift in the global situation in the field of nuclear security.

The practical use of nuclear weapons displayed the necessity to toughen the responsibility for serious contempt of the international legal non-proliferation norm, to make the NPT regime more "sharp-toothed", to fill vivid gaps in this regime and place a reliable safety screen in the way of nuclear arsenals creation. The author investigates the means and tools of nuclear proliferation interception, and suggests options to produce an essential positive effect by weakening of pressure on the world politics from some countries' powerful forces which make the case for other legitimized coercion sources referring to the "ineffectiveness" of the UN.