MOSCOW: Russia said Wednesday it has banned entry to several dozen Japanese officials, including Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, after Tokyo joined international sanctions against Moscow over its military campaign in Ukraine. “The administration of F. Kishida launched an unprecedented anti-Russian campaign (and) allows unacceptable rhetoric against the Russian Federation, including slander and direct threats,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. “It is echoed by public figures, experts, representatives of Japanese media, who are completely engaged by the attitudes of the West towards our country,” the ministry added. It accused Tokyo of taking “practical steps aimed at dismantling good neighbourlyRead More

A spokeswoman for Russia‘s foreign ministry on Wednesday claimed Israeli mercenaries were fighting alongside the far-right Azov Regiment in Ukraine, further fuelling tensions with Israel after Russia suggested Adolf Hitler had “Jewish blood”. “Israeli mercenaries are practically shoulder to shoulder with Azov militants in Ukraine,” Maria Zakharova told pro-Kremlin Sputnik radio in an interview. Azov rose to prominence in 2014, when its far-right activists took up arms to fight pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine‘s eastern Donbas region but have since fallen under the command of Ukraine’s military. They have been fighting alongside the Ukrainian army against Russian troops, which on February 24Read More