Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaking at a memorial ceremony in Nagasaki to mark the 79 th anniversary of the American atomic bombing, again stated that Russia threatens to use nuclear weapons, TASS reported.
„The situation with nuclear disarmament is becoming increasingly difficult in light of Russia's threats to use nuclear weapons,” he repeated the wording uttered three days earlier during a commemoration ceremony to mark the anniversary of the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Kishida also reiterated that divisions in the international community over nuclear disarmament are growing.
Japanese officials, including Kishida, regularly criticize Russia's actions in Ukraine, periodically repeating the thesis of “the inadmissibility of the use and threats of use of nuclear weapons by Russia”.
Moscow has repeatedly rejected statements by Western countries about the alleged existence of a “Russian nuclear threat”. The Russian Foreign Ministry called such statements hypocritical. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed that Russian President Vladimir Putin, unlike the West, has never threatened with a nuclear bomb.
The atomic bombings of two cities were carried out by the United States at the very end of World War II with the officially declared purpose of hastening the surrender of Japan. These are the only examples in the history of mankind of the combat use of nuclear weapons. As a result of the explosion of a bomb dropped on Hiroshima, in one day, according to various estimates, from 70 thousand to 100 thousand people died. By the end of 1945, the death toll rose to 140,000 due to those who died in hospitals from their wounds and exposure to radiation. The total number of victims exceeds 350 thousand.