Russian Foreign Ministry urges Japan to abandon accelerated remilitarization

IZHEVSK, April 24. /TASS/. Russia calls on Japan to recognize the results of the Second World War and stop the accelerated mobilization and liberalization of arms exports to the detriment of the long-standing pacifism of Tokyo's foreign policy, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. "We again call on the Japanese government to fully recognize the results of World War II and abandon the course of accelerated remilitarization, which once brought grief and suffering to the peoples of Asia, including the Japanese people," the diplomat told a news conference. "We are closely following Tokyo's steps in liberalizing exports of weapons and military products, and we see in this a deliberate departure by Japan from the pacifist paradigm of its legally enshrined foreign policy that has persisted for more than eight decades." Referring to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's recent ritual offering to the Yasukuni Shinto Shrine, which is considered a symbol of militarism in Asian countries, the diplomat said it is an "odious temple." "We regularly comment on what is happening around it," Zakharova said. "The action that took place again confirms that the Takaichi administration continues to cynically ignore the feelings of the peoples of the neighboring countries who suffered from the actions of militaristic Japan during WWII - monstrous, terrible actions. This again embodies the dangerous policy of the official Tokyo, the essence of which is absolute disregard, forgetting the lessons of history, and whitewashing these most heinous crimes of the past.".