Russia condemns Japan's whitewashing of militarist crimes

Russia on Thursday condemned Japan's attempts to whitewash its history of militarist aggression and war crimes, urging Tokyo to face up to its past and make genuine atonement to the victims.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova made the remarks at a press briefing in response to a question from Xinhua regarding reports that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi may visit the Yasukuni Shrine.

Zakharova pointed out that the Yasukuni Shrine is a symbol of Japanese militarism, which enshrines Class-A Japanese war criminals sentenced to death by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.

"It is hard for us to even imagine how many lives were claimed by Japanese militarism and how it brutalized civilians, but these are all historically documented facts," she said.

Zakharova said that Japan ought to construct a memorial hall dedicated to the victims of Japanese militarism, and should "dispatch representatives to lay tributes there every year, or even more frequently, as a way to atone for the crimes it has committed."

Russia once again urges Japan to abandon its attempts to whitewash the inhumane atrocities in its history and to fully acknowledge the outcomes of World War II, she said.