Russia Suspends 1993 Nuclear Decommissioning Pact with Japan Amid Deteriorating Relations

Termination of 1993 Pact on Decommissioning Nuclear Weapons Follows String of Unilateral Decisions by Moscow, Escalating Tensions After Japan's Sanctions Over Ukraine Invasion.

• Russia has announced the suspension of a cooperation agreement for the decommissioning of its nuclear weapons signed with Japan in 1993, amid the deteriorating of bilateral relations after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
• The agreement was previously intended to provide Japanese support to decommission weapons, notably including dismantling of nuclear submarines; however, this work has been impeded as Moscow has ceased sending related military data to Tokyo.
• The termination of this pact follows other unilateral decisions by Russia such as the suspension of negotiations for a postwar peace treaty with Japan in March 2022, and withdrawal from joint economic activities on islands claimed by both countries and known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia.
• The 1993 pact was originally signed in response to revelations that Russia's Pacific fleet had dumped radioactive waste into the Sea of Japan; under the agreement, Japan helped Russia process waste for underground burial.
• This move heightens global fears over nuclear threats as Russia has recently stepped back from other international agreements such as the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty amidst tensions with NATO countries.

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