News Newsweek: Russia planned local conflict with Japan in 2021

[thomas]

According to a leaked letter a whistleblower in Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) shared with Newsweek, Russia was preparing for a "localized military conflict" with Japan in August 2021. Russia's propaganda machine was supposed to label the Japanese as "Nazis" and "fascists."

"Confidence that the countries would enter the stage of acute confrontation and even war was high. Why Ukraine was chosen for war in the end [the scenario was not changed much] is for others to answer," they wrote. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The plans for war with Japan may have been related to a longstanding territorial dispute concerning the strategically important Kuril Islands, which are occupied by Russia but claimed by Japan. [...] The FSB, in August 2021, declassified information concerning the brutal torture of Soviet citizens by Japanese special services during World War II. The FSB whistleblower suggested that this was part of an "information campaign against Japan" that could be used to help condition Russians for the planned 2021 attack.

Russia planned to attack Japan in 2021: leaked FSB letters

In August 2021, Russia was "quite seriously preparing for a localized military conflict with Japan," an FSB agent wrote in an email shared with Newsweek.

www.newsweek.com

How Russia was humiliated by Japan when they fought before

As a whistleblower reveals Kremlin plans for conflict with Japan, here's why the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 was one of the country's biggest failures.

www.newsweek.com