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by Junji Akechi, Staff Writer

Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested, including by ordering Russia’s nuclear forces to be put on high alert, that his country might use nuclear weapons, an act that has resulted in numerous anti-nuclear organizations issuing statements of protest. With Russia’s neighboring country Belarus taking steps toward constitutional revision that would allow Russia to house nuclear weapons on its territory, there is growing concern about the issue of nuclear proliferation.

On February 28, the Hiroshima prefectural chapter of the Japan Congress against A- and H-Bombs (Gensuikin) sent a statement of protest to the Russian Embassy in Japan. Quoting from an advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice in 1996, the Gensuikin statement read, “The threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to international law” and criticized President Putin’s behavior as “to be undeniably in violation of international law.” The statement demanded that President Putin vow he would not use nuclear weapons.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which played a crucial role in adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapon (TPNW), issued its own statement the same day. The statement read, “The world has moved closer to a nuclear catastrophe with the order by Russian President Vladimir Putin to place Russia’s nuclear arsenal on combat readiness amidst his country’s illegal invasion of Ukraine,” and called for an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine. It also criticized the policy held by nuclear weapon states of nuclear deterrence, saying the policy “does not keep the peace and assists in continuation of the war being carried out against the Ukrainian people.”

Belarus is set to revise its current constitution, which stipulates that the country will observe neutrality and not possess nuclear weapons. In Japan, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe touched on the idea of a nuclear-sharing policy with the United States. Such moves are a cause of great concern. Akira Kawasaki, 53, a member of the ICAN international steering committee, said, “It is clear that nuclear weapons create and aggravate crises rather than prevent them. World leaders should not be caught up in discussions about possession and sharing of nuclear weapons, but rather aim to restore the international order in which all countries cooperate to control arms, starting with the likes of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.”

(Originally published on March 1, 2022)