Russia Demands Japan Halt Anti-Russian Activities for Relations Normalization

According to the International Desk of Webangah News Agency, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that for the revival and normalization of bilateral relations, Tokyo must set aside its anti-Russian activities by taking specific actions. This statement was made during a meeting between the Director of the Third Department of Asia of the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Director General of the European Affairs Department of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Russian Foreign Ministry further stated that Tokyo needs to consider Russia’s national security concerns. This comes amid the detention of a Japanese journalist by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) last week. The journalist, who was apprehended on suspicion of espionage, has since been transferred to a detention facility in Moscow. The reporter was working for the Japanese newspaper ‘Hokkaido Shimbun’ in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the administrative center of the Sakhalin region.