Russian experts deny Japan Center claims
Moscow’s withdrawal from bilateral memorandums with Tokyo on the operations of Japan Center offices in Russia does not mean that these facilities will be shut down, experts have told RIA Novosti.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed the order to stop the execution of the memorandums last week. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi claimed on Monday that the move by Moscow was “unacceptable,” adding that Tokyo will “respond appropriately.”
Media reports that Russia is closing the Japan Center offices in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Khabarovsk, Vladivostok, and Sakhalin are incorrect, RIA Novosti said in an article on Monday. The facilities are used to hold lectures and to help organize internships in Japan for Russian workers.
“It is not about ending the activities of the Japan Center offices, which are Russian legal entities, but are financed by the Japanese government, but about ending the application of Russian-Japanese intergovernmental memorandums on the creation and operations… of the Japanese centers for technical assistance to reforms being carried out in Russia,” experts told the agency.
The sanctions imposed by Tokyo on Moscow over the Ukraine conflict and other “unfriendly measures” implemented by Japan since February 2022 “go against the spirit and letter of the memorandums,” they said, explaining the decision by Moscow.
According to the experts, the memorandums on the operations of the centers were signed in 2000 and 2003 due to an understanding between Moscow and Tokyo that democratic reforms in Russia would be essential for effective cooperation between the two nations.
“In the context of Tokyo’s anti-Russian policy and the current situation as a whole, it is obvious that the goals and objectives of these documents have been exhausted and the memorandums have lost their relevance,” they stressed.
Moscow responded to “unfriendly steps” by Tokyo by refusing to negotiate a Second World War peace treaty with Japan, stopping visa-free travel for Japanese citizens to the southern Kuril Islands, and halting discussions on joint economic activity on the islands.
Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier laid the blame on Japan for the tensions in bilateral relations, but stressed that Moscow remains ready to resume cooperation with Tokyo if it changes its approach.
