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‘At rock bottom’: 100 years of Japan-Russia ties come full circle
Moscow marked the occasion by issuing a thinly veiled critique of deteriorating ties and hints at plans to close Japanese cultural centres
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A century after a landmark treaty rekindled ties between Japan and the Soviet Union, a new era of tension shows just how fragile relations between Tokyo and Moscow have become.
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Russia marked the Soviet–Japanese Basic Convention’s 100th anniversary with a pointed statement last week that seemed less about history and more about present animosities.
“The Russian side proceeds from the fact that even today in Japan there are sensible politicians and public figures who are aware of the harmfulness of the anti-Russian course of the official authorities, its negative consequences for the Japanese people,” said the foreign ministry in a statement on January 20.
For many observers, this seemed a bitter irony, given the current state of affairs.
Relations between the two countries have plummeted in recent years, particularly since 2022, when Moscow officially designated Japan as an “unfriendly country” after Tokyo joined Western nations in imposing sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Peace treaty negotiations were halted, and diplomatic exchanges grew increasingly sparse.
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“Since then, political relations have gone from bad to worse. They are at rock bottom,” said James Brown, a professor of international relations specialising in Russian affairs at Temple University’s Tokyo campus.
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