Minsk hosts photo exhibition "Kazakhstan – leader of antinuclear movement”

On August 17th CIS Executive Committee held an opening ceremony of a photo exhibition “Kazakhstan – leader of antinuclear movement”. The exhibition was inaugurated by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Kazakhstan to Belarus, Permanent Authorized Representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the statutory and other bodies of the Commonwealth, Anatoli Smirnov.

On August 17^th CIS Executive Committee held an opening ceremony of a photo exhibition “Kazakhstan – leader of antinuclear movement”. The exhibition was inaugurated by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Kazakhstan to Belarus, Permanent Authorized Representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the statutory and other bodies of the Commonwealth, Anatoli Smirnov.

The exhibition is devoted to the International Day against Nuclear Tests which is celebrated by the international community on August 29^th. On this very day in 1991 Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a decree on closing Semipalatinsk testing area.

“For the people of Kazakhstan who experienced all the horrors of nuclear tests the question of their total ban is particularly significant,” said Anatoli Smirnov. The first test explosion of the Soviet atomic bomb was carried out at the Semipalatinsk test site 61 years ago. Since then, more than 460 nuclear and thermonuclear bombs exploded there which caused radioactive contamination of a considerable part of Kazakhstan. Total yield of nuclear explosions exceeded the yield of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 2.4 thousand times. For many years this information has been classified, despite the fact that tens of thousands of Kazakhstan inhabitants got massive radiation doses, suffered and died from incurable diseases.

At the dawn of its independence the Republic of Kazakhstan clearly stated the peaceful nature of its foreign policy aimed at creating the atmosphere of mutual trust. Realizing its responsibility to the international community for ensuring nuclear safety, Kazakhstan took the right decision having declared itself a nuclear-free state. The services of the republic to the world anti-nuclear movement have been recognized by the international community.

The ceremony was attended by the Chairman of the Executive Committee – CIS Executive Secretary Sergei Lebedev, as well as the ambassadors and permanent representative of the CIS member states, accredited officials of diplomatic missions, and leaders of the CIS Executive Committee.