Russia Condemns Japan’s Drone Cooperation with Ukraine as ‘Openly Hostile’

Dragon Media News Desk

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko has accused Japan of indirectly contributing to attacks on Russian civilians through cooperation between Japanese companies and Ukrainian drone developers.

In an interview published by the Russian news agency TASS on Saturday, Rudenko claimed that Ukraine had been systematically using unmanned aerial vehicles to strike civilian targets inside Russian territory.

“Given Ukraine’s systematic terrorist provocations using UAVs against civilian targets on Russian territory, we regard such cooperation with the Kyiv regime as an openly hostile action,” Rudenko said.

“Ukrainian drones are killing Russian civilians, and Tokyo is helping them do so,” he added.

Rudenko said Japan’s growing involvement in the Russia–Ukraine conflict was further weakening already strained relations between Moscow and Tokyo.

Russia has repeatedly criticised Japan for supporting Ukraine, participating in international sanctions against Moscow and expanding cooperation with Ukrainian defence and technology companies.

Japan, meanwhile, has maintained that its assistance to Ukraine is intended to uphold national sovereignty and the rules-based international order. Tokyo has provided Ukraine with financial, humanitarian and reconstruction assistance, while avoiding the direct supply of lethal weapons under its existing policy framework.

Rudenko’s allegation that Japanese-linked technology has been used in specific drone attacks against Russian civilians has not been independently verified.

The latest remarks underline the continued deterioration in Russia–Japan relations, which have already been affected by sanctions, unresolved territorial disputes and the suspension of negotiations over a formal post-Second World War peace treaty.