Russian Ambassador to Japan promises to "work for abolition"

8/7/00

The Russian Ambassador to Japan, Aleksandor Panov, attended the Peace Memorial Ceremony on the 6th. It was the first time an ambassador from any of the five nuclear weapon states has attended a memorial ceremony, including the one in Nagasaki. After the ceremony, an interview was held at the International Conference Center Hiroshima in the Peace Memorial Park. At the interview, the Ambassador said, "We intend to respond to Hiroshima's appeal by working to abolish nuclear weapons."

Ambassador Panov had attended the ceremony in Hiroshima twice before assuming his position in 1996. In reference to his attendance, the Ambassador mentioned that since this was the last ceremony of the 20th century and because President Putin expressed in a letter to Hiroshima and Nagasaki his intention to "begin decreasing the number of strategic nuclear warheads to 1,500," he wanted to attend and mourn for the atomic bomb victims, even though he had pressing official engagements back home in Russia in July and August.

The Ambassador pointed out that the dropping of the atomic bomb was "certainly the worst tragedy in the history of mankind." He also praised the on-going peace movement that passes down Hiroshima's experience of the tragedy to the world. In answer to the question of whether the attendance of an ambassador from one of the five nuclear weapon states can be interpreted as progress toward nuclear disarmament, the Ambassador said although attendance and disarmament are officially unrelated, "I do intend to make efforts to help in the reduction of armaments."

Referring to Russia's ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the Second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START II), he also stated, "Our country is prepared to disarm. For Hiroshima as well, we would like to achieve a world without nuclear weapons. If I am still the Ambassador, I will attend the ceremony next year."


[Caption] Russian Ambassador to Japan Aleksandor Panov attended the Peace Memorial Ceremony (center). Photo taken in the Peace Memorial Park, Naka-ku, Hiroshima.


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