Russian Ambassador Says Russia-Japan Relations Return to "Ice Age"

Moscow (ANTARA) - Tokyo’s policies in recent years have eroded the positive foundations in Russia-Japan relations, returning bilateral ties to an “ice age,” stated Russia’s Ambassador to Japan, Nikolai Nozdrev, on Monday (11/5). “We are witnessing an unprecedented decline throughout the post-war era, if I may call it that, a deep ‘ice age’ in bilateral relations,” he said in an interview with the Russian news agency, RIA Novosti. The positive foundations built over the past few decades have been “almost completely destroyed” by Tokyo’s joining of the “collective Western anti-Russia ranks in the context of the Ukraine crisis,” he explained. The ambassador outlined a series of important prerequisites for restoring inter-state contacts, including Tokyo’s rejection of its current hostile orientation, specifically halting its revisionist policies and withdrawing from its drive towards remilitarisation.