Russia suspends nuclear weapons decommissioning agreement with Japan.
After breaking the security pact with NATO, Moscow also unilaterally suspends the agreement with Tokyo on dismantling its nuclear submarines, as well as economic and territorial cooperation. For Japan, its sanctions against Russia after its invasion of Ukraine are the reason.
Tokyo (AsiaNews/Agency) – Russia announced on Thursday that it was suspending the cooperation agreement signed with Japan in 1993 for the decommissioning of its nuclear weapons.
This comes two days after Moscow formally withdrew from the historic security treaty that limited key categories of conventional armed forces in Europe. The Kremlin blamed its decision on Washington saying that NATO enlargement undermined post-Cold War security.
Ending the agreement with Japan also comes amid deteriorating bilateral relations following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and subsequent economic sanctions imposed by Japan.
The first pact torn up by Putin is the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), signed a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall – it placed verifiable limits on the categories of conventional military equipment NATO and the then Warsaw Pact could deploy.
The agreement with Japan provided instead for Japanese support in the decommissioning of Russian weapons, including the dismantling of nuclear submarines, work that was suspended after Russia refused to send military data to Tokyo.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at a press conference in Tokyo on Friday, "It is regrettable that the Russian government has unilaterally announced the suspension of the pact without notification in advance."
The move follows other unilateral steps by Russia, including the suspension in March 2022 of negotiations for a peace treaty with Japan, a month after Tokyo began imposing economic sanctions on Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine.
Russia has also withdrawn from joint economic activities on the islands it controls that are claimed by Japan. The disputed islands off Hokkaido are known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia.
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