Russia unveiled a monument showing a Soviet soldier smashing Japan’s chrysanthemum emblem. Japan’s prime minister wants it removed.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has demanded the removal of a monument unveiled in Khabarovsk on September 4 that commemorates “the Soviet Union’s victory over militarist Japan” and the end of World War II.The 15-meter bronze sculpture, installed on the Amur River embankment, depicts a Soviet soldier using the butt of his rifle to smash a border post bearing the chrysanthemum emblem. The monument is engraved with the names of the Far Eastern fronts, the Trans-Baikal Front, the Pacific Fleet, and the Amur Flotilla. Vladimir Putin commissioned the monument, which was created in cooperation with the Russian Military Historical Society (RVIO) and the Khabarovsk regional government.“The chrysanthemum emblem is widely recognized as a symbol of Japan, and installing a monument depicting its destruction is absolutely unacceptable. This is a matter of national sentiment in Japan, and the Japanese government has firmly demanded that Russia halt the installation of the monument and dismantle it,” Takaichi said on X, where she also posted a Russian-language version of the statement.Takaichi said Tokyo would continue to “press Russia to dismantle the border post.”According to the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in response: “All that remains is to demand that the wind stop blowing and the sun stop shining. Our land was defended by our ancestors; our history is based on facts; our memory is enshrined in this monument.”At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.