Japan Press Weekly

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2024 May 22 - 28 TOP3 [PEACE]

Hibakusha protest Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons exercises

The Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) on May 24 sent a letter to the Russian Embassy in Tokyo, protesting Russia’s military exercises simulating the use of tactical nuclear weapons.

In the letter, A-bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki strongly protested the start of the drills, criticizing such actions as a “wrong tactic that could increase the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons, put the world at the blink of a nuclear war which could escalate to bring about the destruction of mankind.”

Pointing out that the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) prohibits the development, testing, use, or threat of use of nuclear weapons, the letter points out that the tactical nuclear weapons drills are in blatant violation of international law, regardless of whether Russia is a TPNW signatory or not.

The letter calls on the parties to the war in Ukraine and their supporting countries to “start a dialogue to end the war as soon as possible.”