Photo/Illutration Members of the Japan NGO Network for Nuclear Weapons Abolition hold an online news conference on Aug. 29. (Captured from the screen)

Atomic bomb survivors and Japanese anti-nuclear activists slammed Russia over the failure of a U.N. nuclear disarmament review conference to adopt a joint declaration, and also decried the arrogance of four other nuclear powers.

The hibakusha urged Japan to be more committed to nuclear disarmament, including joining the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

The Japan NGO Network for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, which comprises the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers’ Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) and anti-nuclear nongovernmental organizations, held an online news conference on Aug. 29.

The NGO Network said in a statement that its members are “deeply disappointed and outraged” that the review conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty ended on Aug. 26 in New York without reaching agreement on a final statement due to Russia’s opposition.

At the conference, the nuclear power came under fire for its invasion of Ukraine, a non-nuclear state.

“Nevertheless, the Russian Government continued to attempt to justify its own acts,” read the statement.

The statement noted that four other nuclear powers, including the United States, also failed to seriously face up to their obligations to work toward nuclear disarmament, describing them as being "arrogant."

“I can’t help wondering what they have achieved over the 52 years (since the NPT took effect in 1970),” said Masako Wada, an assistant secretary-general at Nihon Hidankyo, who survived the atomic bombing of Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945.

Seven groups of survivors of the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing of Hiroshima also criticized Russia and other nuclear powers during a news conference at the Hiroshima city government office on Aug. 29.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who represents a constituency in Hiroshima, became the first Japanese leader to attend an NPT review conference, but the hibakusha groups, based in Hiroshima Prefecture, said the Japanese government “barely made its presence felt.”

“Kishida says Japan is willing to serve as a bridge (between the nuclear and non-nuclear states), so I want him to show his commitment by bringing other non-nuclear states together, instead of acting like a third party,” said Kunihiko Sakuma, who heads the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-Bomb Sufferers Organizations.

Sakuma urged Japan to first sign and ratify the TPNW, which came into force in January last year.

(This article was written by Kazutaka Toda and Hideki Soejima, a senior staff writer.)

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