Russia to continue to reveal crimes of Japanese militarism

Russia will keep revealing details of Japan's war crimes in World War II and push for their prosecution, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday, announcing a list of 20 Japanese war criminals.

The Russian Foreign Ministry website published Zakharova's comments. She said that between April and November 2025, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office annulled a number of "rehabilitation" decisions made from the 1980s to the 2000s concerning certain Japanese citizens.

These individuals were involved in sabotage and espionage activities against the Soviet Union during WWII and even after Japan's surrender in 1945. After a review by relevant Russian authorities, it was determined that these individuals did not meet the criteria for "rehabilitation," and their crimes have been fully substantiated.

Some of them attempted to organize intelligence-gathering activities after surrendering to the Soviet Red Army, seeking information on the strength and deployment of Soviet forces; others trained saboteurs in border areas adjacent to the Soviet Union; and still others took part in the notorious human experimentation conducted by Unit 731.

Zakharova said there is no statute of limitations for the atrocities committed by Japanese militarists, and the process of legally sanctioning those involved is still ongoing, adding that Russia will continue to expose the crimes of Japanese militarists and make them public.