ALEXANDER YAKOVENKO, THE OFFICIAL SPOKESMAN OF RUSSIA'S MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, ANSWERS A QUESTION FROM THE KYODO TSUSHIN NEWS AGENCY REGARDING THE STATEMENTS BY LEADING JAPANESE POLITICIANS ABOUT THE PREPAREDNESS OF THE LEADERSHIP OF JAPAN TO REVIEW ITS "THREE FUNDAMENTAL NON-NUCLEAR PRINCIPLES" IN THE FUTURE

Unofficial translation from Russian

Question: Please comment on the statements of leading Japanese politicians, including Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, made on May 31 at a press conference in Tokyo, to the effect that the leadership of Japan is prepared to review the country's "three fundamental non-nuclear principles" in the future and for the purposes of self-defense to arm it with nuclear weapons. These statements have already caused a wave of protests from opposition parties.

Answer: Proclaimed by the Japanese parliament, the "three non-nuclear principles" over the course of many years were positively regarded in the world as evidence of the realistic character of the foreign policy of Japan.

The current statement of the official spokesman of the Government of Japan about a possible review in the future of these principles arouses an understandable concern. Japan - a large world power, the only victim of atomic bombings - was always in the front ranks of the supporters of nuclear disarmament. Now that this problem has assumed special relevance, and leading nuclear powers are taking steps in the direction of reducing their nuclear capabilities, such statements by Japan's official spokesmen, in our view, do not contribute to the strengthening of the nonproliferation regime and look an obvious anachronism.

June 2, 2002