A new date for the events has not yet been determined, the Office noted.
The possibility for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to participate in the celebrations to mark the 75th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War in Moscow depends on the specific date of the event. This was announced by Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi at a press conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.
“As for the May 9 ceremony, it was postponed and Russia wants to hold it before the end of this year. I haven’t heard that at the moment a new date would be determined. Without a new date, no agreement can be made”, – he said to the request to comment on the possibility of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s participation in the celebrations in Moscow, if they take place in September.
The minister also added that Japan still maintains its basic position that the territorial issue must be resolved and a peace treaty signed with Moscow. He expressed the hope that contacts between the two countries would resume in a personal format once the situation with the Coronavirus Pandemic normalized.
The Asahi newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing government sources, that Abe will not be able to participate in the celebrations in Moscow on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Victory if they are held on September 3, when Russia celebrates the end of World War II. According to Asahi, the events in Moscow on September 3 will inevitably be dedicated to the victory over Japan, whose leadership representatives signed an act of unconditional surrender of the country on September 2, 1945. According to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, the newspaper notes that the Prime Minister’s participation in such events is associated with recognition of the inclusion of the southern part of Kuril in the USSR, which, from the point of view of Tokyo, is unacceptable.
Prime Minister Abe was invited to the celebrations in the Russian capital, which were to be held on May 9. On February 10 this year, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said that a meeting of Russian and Japanese leaders was scheduled for that day in Moscow. Prime Minister Abe, according to one of his closest members of parliament, was seriously considering the presence at the Victory Parade on May 9.
However, on April 6 this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin, due to the situation with the spread of the new coronavirus, instructed to postpone all mass events that were planned to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, including the parade on Red Square and the procession of the “Immortal Regiment”. The President assured that all these celebrations will take place in 2020. At the expert level, it is suggested that the events could be postponed to September 3 as an option.