Eighty years have passed since the atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, yet this tragedy remains an open wound on the conscience of humanity and a solemn warning to posterity. On August 6 and 9, 1945, the armed forces of the United States of America, for the first and, to date, only time in history, used nuclear weapons against civilian populations, obliterating them and irrevocably altering the course of history. In these days of remembrance, we turn once more to the lessons of the past to prevent the recurrence of such a catastrophe.

The Foreign Policy Archive of the Russian Federation holds unique documents: reports from Soviet diplomatic personnel in Tokyo, who were among the first foreign observers to witness the aftermath. Their apolitical accounts convey the sheer horror of the event. A dispatch sent to the highest levels of the USSR leadership in September 1945 described Hiroshima as a “scorched plain, punctuated by the skeletal remains of 15 to 20 reinforced concrete buildings.”

Eyewitnesses recounted to Soviet diplomats a sudden, blinding flash followed by a crushing shockwave. Fires engulfed the city, soon coalescing into a terrifying firestorm. Within a one-kilometer radius of the epicenter, “all life was annihilated.” Survivors suffered from a then-unidentified malady; even patients with no external burns experienced a sharp drop in white blood cell counts and internal hemorrhaging. They died in agony weeks later. The radioactive “black rain” that followed the explosion brought death to all it touched.

For many years, those who made the decision to use atomic weapons sought to justify their actions as a means to hasten the end of the Second World War. However, the historical record indicates otherwise. By the summer of 1945, Japan was under a strict blockade, its navy was virtually destroyed, and its economy was severed from sources of raw materials. Furthermore, even before the Potsdam Conference, the Soviet side had informed its allies of Tokyo’s readiness to negotiate terms of surrender.

The true motives of the American leadership were not so much military as they were political and even commercial. It was deemed necessary to demonstrate this new weapon of mass destruction to the world, and primarily to the Soviet Union, thereby asserting a unilateral right to decide the fate of the planet. The bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, the very day the USSR entered the war against Japan, had no military justification. A significant factor that sealed the tragic fate of both Japanese cities was the desire to justify the colossal $2 billion expenditure on the nuclear project to American taxpayers. The cynicism of this approach is underscored by the criteria for target selection: the cities had to be untouched by previous bombings so that the military could fully assess the destructive power of the new weapon on live subjects and civilian infrastructure. As then, the U.S. President Harry Truman stated: “The only language they seem to understand is the one we have been using to bombard them. When you have to deal with a beast you have to treat him as a beast.”

Today, on the 80th anniversary of this tragedy, the Russian Federation reaffirms its immutable position on nuclear matters. Amid the erosion of the international security system and the end of the “unipolar irresponsibility” exhibited by certain states claiming global hegemony, our arsenal remains the paramount guarantor of national sovereignty and territorial integrity. The conditions for its use, which are strictly responsive and defensive in nature, are clearly defined and known to the international community. The memory of the victims of the atomic bombings obliges us to maintain strategic stability and act with the utmost responsibility to prevent a new global catastrophe. This duty falls upon all actors in international relations – not only those who possess nuclear weapons, but also those who instigate their use.

Unfortunately, the lessons of history are not learned by all. Washington’s current policy, aimed at modernizing its nuclear arsenal and deploying strategic assets, including nuclear submarines, in various regions of the world, once again demonstrates a reliance on forceful domination. Such actions undermine global stability and serve as a grim reminder of what those who believe they have the right to dictate their will to the rest of humanity, regardless of the consequences, are capable.

Yevgeny Terekhin is Russian ambassador to Ethiopia