“Guided by the principle of reciprocity, the Russian side demanded that eight Japanese diplomatic workers leave our country by May 10.
The full responsibility for such a development of events lies solely with the Japanese government, which has made a choice in favor of abandoning friendly, constructive relations, ”the agency said in a statement.
Among the reasons for the corresponding step, the Russian Foreign Ministry named the openly hostile anti-Russian course adopted in Tokyo.
The ministry noted that the administration of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took unprecedented steps that destroy the positive mutually beneficial cooperation accumulated over many years.
“Disregarding common sense, Japan openly took the position of full support for neo-Nazi formations operating on the territory of Ukraine, providing political, economic and military assistance to the regime in Kyiv.
This is accompanied by an intensification of Russophobic hysteria in Japanese society,” the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed.
On April 12, Japan imposed sanctions on 398 individuals and 28 organizations from Russia, and also approved the freezing of the assets of Sberbank and Alfa-Bank from May 12.
The press secretary of the Russian leader, Dmitry Peskov, said earlier that Japan had become an unfriendly country for Russia.