Russia

Russia State Duma declares Sept. 3 as Day of Victory over Japan

Sputnik/Yegor Aleev/Pool via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the North River Terminal, locally known as Rechnoy Vokzal, to launch a new electric passenger ship route in Moscow, Russia, June 20, 2023.

Jiji Press

14:54 JST, June 21, 2023

TOKYO (Jiji Press)—Russia’s State Duma, or the lower house of the country’s parliament, passed a bill on Tuesday to declare Sept. 3 as the Day of Victory over Militaristic Japan and the end of World War II.

The declaration will become official after the Federal Council, or the upper house of the parliament, approves the bill and President Vladimir Putin signs it.

A group of deputies from both houses introduced the bill in response to what it called Japan’s “unfriendly” actions after Tokyo imposed sanctions on Russia over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

The passage of the bill could complicate Tokyo’s efforts to resolve a territorial dispute with Moscow over Russian-held, Japanese-claimed northwestern Pacific islands that were occupied by Soviet troops in World War II. The Putin administration has repeated claims that Moscow’s control of the islands is the result of the war.

Sept. 3 is also the day when China commemorates its victory over Japan in World War II. Putin paid tribute to China’s fight against Japan in the war in a speech in May that marked the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.