For the people of Kazakhstan, 29 August is not just a day on the calendar but a reminder of the threat that nuclear weapons pose to humanity.

That’s the message from the country’s UN Ambassador, Magzhan Ilyassov, speaking ahead of the International Day Against Nuclear Tests, observed annually on that date.

It commemorates the 1991 closure of the Semipalatinsk test site in northeastern Kazakhstan, where the Soviet Union exploded hundreds of nuclear devices over a 40-year period.

Liudmila Blagonravova asked Mr. Ilyassov about Kazakhstan’s role in spearheading the International Day, and about the significance of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force in January.

Given the ongoing developments in Afghanistan, he also spoke about how Kazakhstan is assisting scores of Afghans living and studying there.