Japanese government-funded entities in Russia that offer language classes and are seen as a symbol of bilateral friendship could cease operations following an order to terminate the implementation of related bilateral agreements.
In an order dated Wednesday and posted on the Russian government’s website, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin suspended the implementation of memorandums signed in 2000 and 2003 with Japan stipulating the activities and other issues regarding “Japan Centers,” in another sign of soured bilateral ties following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
File photo taken in December 2000 shows Russian students learning Japanese at Japan Center in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in Russia. (Kyodo)
The order says the Russian Foreign Ministry will convey the decision to the Japanese side.
According to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, such centers were established by the Japanese government in six cities in Russia from 1994 to 2001, including Moscow.
The centers offer management and Japanese language courses to cultivate and train personnel who then go on to work in Japan-Russia economic relations, the ministry said.
Japan, in lockstep with its Group of Seven peers and Western countries, has imposed economic sanctions on Russia since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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