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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