HIROSHIMA /Japan/, May 20. /TASS/. The process of reducing nuclear arsenals, which emerged after the Cold War, should continue and must never be reversed, the G7 leaders said in a joint statement adopted on Friday.
"The overall decline in global nuclear arsenals achieved since the end of the Cold War must continue and not be reversed," reads the document, headlined G7 Leaders’ Hiroshima Vision on Nuclear Disarmament. "The Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) must be upheld as the cornerstone of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime and the foundation for the pursuit of nuclear disarmament and peaceful uses of nuclear energy. We reaffirm our commitment to the ultimate goal of a world without nuclear weapons with undiminished security for all, achieved through a realistic, pragmatic and responsible approach."
The G7 leaders, who gathered in Hiroshima - the site of the 1945 US nuclear bombing - criticized Russia for its decision to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. They also condemned its "irresponsible nuclear rhetoric" - the claims that Moscow has strongly denied on many occasions.
The preamble of the document says that "Hiroshima, which together with Nagasaki offers a reminder of the unprecedented devastation and immense human suffering the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki experienced as a result of the atomic bombings of 1945," but makes no mention of who dropped these bombs.
Japan holds the presidency of the G7 in 2023. The G7 summit is taking place in the Japanese city of Hiroshima between May 19 and 21. In addition to representatives of the G7 itself, the leaders of Australia, Brazil, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, the Cook Islands, the Comoros, and South Korea have been invited to the summit.