Japanese Prime Minister Fumio #Kishida recently made several hostile, anti-Russia comments, including his biased statements on nuclear weapons. They were close to what he had said at the 19th #IISS #Shangri-LaDialogue in Singapore in June:

· “Amid the crisis in Ukraine, the use of #nuclearweapons by #Russia is being discussed as a real possibility.
· “The ramifications of Russia's threat to use nuclear weapons are not limited to the threat itself. The threat may have already caused serious damage to the nuclear nonproliferation regime”.

Here is quote from the comment of the Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Ms. #MariaZakharova on the topic:

“The direction and tone are bewildering. For example, he justifies the choice of Hiroshima as a G7 summit venue by noting that the city has no more suitable alternative at a time when the use of nuclear weapons by Russia and the threat to use them is becoming a reality in conditions of a destabilised international order.

This is a shockingly cynical attempt to blend unjustified criticism of Russia with the context of the Hiroshima tragedy. It would be logical to assume that, against the backdrop of an approaching anniversary of tragic events when nuclear weapons were used against Japan, Tokyo would emphatically denounce the country that had launched criminal nuclear strikes against Japanese cities in August 1945. Contrary to the servile pro-US rhetoric of the Japanese authorities who have done a lot to erode the historical memory of their own nation, the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki cannot help but recall that Washington had issued that barbaric order.

Attempts to distort, for propaganda purposes, the logic of deterrence on which official Russian commentaries on the subject of nuclear weapons hinge and to portray Russia as a country threatening to use nuclear weapons are absolutely unacceptable. We specially reject this, especially since the United States, Japan’s patron, commonly exposes the world to the main nuclear risks today. In turn, Japanese representatives make their provocative comments from under a US nuclear umbrella. By provoking an aggravation of the Ukrainian crisis and unleashing an intensive hybrid standoff with Russia, Washington and its allies are balancing dangerously on the brink of an open military confrontation with Russia and therefore on the brink of a direct armed conflict between nuclear powers. Obviously, this clash would be fraught with the possibility of nuclear escalation.

However, the Japanese establishment prefers not to notice this destabilising line of its American suzerain.

Regarding Tokyo’s deliberate line to note reduced nuclear risks and to move towards a nuclear-free world, it leaves a feeling of insincerity. This line directly contradicts episodic reports regarding insistent Japanese calls that the United States beef up its nuclear potential in the Asia-Pacific region. For example, this was clear from Tokyo’s tough criticism of the Obama administration for its decision to renounce submarine launched cruise missiles (SLCMs). Japan actively praised the Trump administration’s programme to build up low-yield nuclear weapons, including renewed nuclear-tipped SLCMs. One cannot help but note a discussion, initiated by influential persons, on the advisability of deploying US nuclear weapons in Japan and conducting joint nuclear missions similar to those stipulated by NATO in circumvention of the requirements of the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. At the same time, the US-Japanese agreement making it possible to return US nuclear weapons to Okinawa remains in force.

In this context, we have reason to suspect that this implies Tokyo’s striving to use similar statements on the subject of nuclear weapons to downplay the historical role of Japanese militarism in the context of World War II and for justifying its purposeful deviation from the policy of self-imposed military restrictions.”