Tokyo has demanded that Russia demolish a newly unveiled monument commemorating the 1945 Soviet victory over Imperial Japan and the end of World War II, claiming it offends the “feelings of the Japanese people.” Moscow, however, has dismissed the demand, equating it to telling “the Sun not to shine.”
The monument was unveiled in the Russian far-eastern city of Khabarovsk on Friday. The centerpiece of the memorial is a 15-meter statue of a Soviet soldier crushing a border stone engraved with the Imperial chrysanthemum crest of Japan with the butt of his rifle. The monument was created on the initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin, with its design beating seven other projects in a contest.
The stone is “an exact replica of the boundary stone Japan erected on Sakhalin, seizing half of it after the Russo-Japanese War” in the early 20th century, Nikolay Ovsiyenko, deputy head of the presidential office on humanitarian affairs, said. “This isn’t just a symbol of the imperial house, as our neighbors insist – it’s also a symbol of militaristic Japan, which committed monstrous crimes during World War II,” Ovsiyenko added during the unveiling ceremony.
The display has caused a meltdown in Tokyo, with multiple top officials demanding the removal of the monument. “Through diplomatic channels, we have strongly requested the Russian side to cease the installation and remove it,” Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said, adding that he found it “extremely regrettable that the Russian side has not responded to Japan’s request as of the present moment.”
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi also went to lengths about the Russian monument, calling the depiction of the destruction of the Imperial crest “completely unacceptable.” The crest “is widely recognized as a symbol of Japan,” and presenting it in such fashion offends the “feelings of the Japanese people,” Takaichi claimed.
Moscow provided an official reaction to the Japanese demands on Sunday, when Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova firmly rejected any prospects of demolishing the monument or somehow altering it to appease Tokyo.
“All that remains is to tell the wind not to blow and the Sun not to shine. Our land is protected by our ancestors; our history is grounded in facts; our memory is enshrined in the monument,” Zakharova told RIA Novosti.
Last month, Putin made his first-ever visit to the Russia Kuril archipelago, which is partially claimed by Japan. The visit was vigorously protested by Tokyo, with Takaichi calling Putin’s trip “absolutely unacceptable” and saying it “hurts the feelings of the Japanese people.”
At the time, Moscow brushed off the Japanese protests, pointing out the Kuril Islands are Russian territory and the country’s president is fully within his rights to visit them as he pleases. Tokyo’s territorial demands have remained a persistent issue in its ties with Moscow for decades, ultimately preventing the Soviet Union and modern Russia from reaching a formal post-WWII settlement with Japan.
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