US Seeks to Erase Memory of 1945 Japan Nuclear Bombings – Russian Lawmaker

The United States would prefer that the world forget it dropped nuclear bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the speaker of the Russian lower house of parliament said Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – This week marks the observance and remembrance of the 1945 wartime bombings by United States Air Force that killed more over 130,000 people in two separate air raids on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9. Japan surrendered six days after the attacks.

State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin said, at a roundtable in Moscow commemorating the 70th anniversary of the bombings, that Washington should have known how disproportionate and horrific its response was in the World War II Pacific theater.

"But instead of learning from history they effectively try to ignore it – and they do it not for the sake of peace and security but rather to preserve the national prestige," Naryshkin said.

He blamed Washington for "trying to remove the memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki out of the focus of international discussions. But the history of humanity would be incomplete without these tragic pages," the speaker observed.

Japan holds a peace memorial ceremony every year in August to honor the survivors and pray for the souls of those who perished in the horrific nuclear-bomb attacks.