“If we look objectively at bilateral relations, we can affirm with absolute certainty that they are at their lowest level in the post-war period, due to the measures that the current government of Japan applies consistently, deliberately, and consciously,” the diplomat confirmed on the Sputnik news agency.

Nozdrev mentioned, in particular, Tokyo’s withdrawal of many agreements reached in previous decades, adding that the anti-Russian hysteria that is being incited in society, as well as various batteries of sanctions “whose importance, to be honest, the Japanese side exaggerates in every possible sense.”

“As a result, relations have not only been set back several decades; their foundations have been largely destroyed. The damage to these relations is such that they will not be able to fully recover, even with eventual stabilization. We have crossed a point of no return,” the ambassador said.

The ambassador was equally concerned about Japan’s growing military activity near Russia’s borders. “This activity is also carried out in a bi- or multilateral format, first and foremost, with the participation of the armed forces of the United States, some countries of NATO and other US allies in the Asia-Pacific region,” Nozdrev said.

For decades, Tokyo has conditioned the signing of the peace treaty with Russia, pending since 1945, on the recovery of the Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai islands, which the Japanese consider their “northern territories.”

Japan hides behind the Bilateral Trade and Border Treaty it signed with Russia on February 7th, 1855. Russia, in turn, emphasizes that these territories were transferred to the Soviet Union by international agreements at the end of the Second World War, and that Russia assumed sovereignty over these territories as the legal successor of the USSR.

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