Russia rejects Japan's request to remove Khabarovsk monument, saying the request is like asking the wind to stop blowing

China News Service, Moscow, September 6th. In response to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's request that Russia dismantle a monument in Khabarovsk commemorating the victory over militaristic Japan, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zakharova responded on the 6th that this request is "tantamount to asking the wind to stop blowing and the sun to stop shining."

According to RIA Novosti, Zakharova emphasized, "Our land is guarded by our ancestors, our history is based on facts, and our memories are engraved on monuments." She also pointed out that if the Japanese authorities despise history so much, "then this pathology should never spread to other places."

On the 4th local time, the unveiling ceremony of the monument to the victory over militaristic Japan was held in Khabarovsk, the capital of the Khabarovsk Territory in the Russian Far East. According to reports, the monument is the largest monument in Russia currently commemorating the victory over militaristic Japan. It was built by the Russian Military Historical Society in cooperation with the Khabarovsk Territory Government. In the center of the monument is a 15-meter-high statue of a Soviet soldier, representing the Soviet Red Army that defeated the main force of the Japanese Kwantung Army. The soldiers were holding long guns, and a nearby boundary monument with a chrysanthemum pattern was smashed in half.

The day before the monument was unveiled, the Japanese Consulate General in Khabarovsk asked Russia to remove the boundary marker part of the monument on the grounds that the chrysanthemum coat of arms is a symbol of the Japanese royal family, but Russia refused.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi posted a message on social media earlier, asking Russia to remove the monument on the grounds that it "hurts the feelings of the Japanese people."

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