The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Japan is the official representative of the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

and the

Government of the Russian Federation The Government of Russia exercises executive power in the Russian Federation. The members of the government are the prime minister, the deputy prime ministers, and the federal ministers. It has its legal basis in the Constitution of the Russia ...

to the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

and the

Government of Japan The Government of Japan consists of legislative, executive and judiciary branches and is based on popular sovereignty. The Government runs under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947. It is a unitary stat ...

. The ambassador and his staff work at large in the Embassy of Russia in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. There are consulates general in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

, Niigata, and

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous cit ...

, and a consulate in

Hakodate is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of July 31, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 279,851 with 143,221 households, and a population density of 412.8 ...

. The post of Russian Ambassador to Japan is currently held by , incumbent since 28 January 2018.

History of diplomatic relations

The first official representative of Russia to Japan was

Yevfimiy Putyatin Yevfimiy Vasilyevich Putyatin (russian: Евфи́мий Васи́льевич Путя́тин; November 8, 1803 – October 16, 1883), also known as was an admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy. His diplomatic mission to Japan r ...

in the early 1850s. Putyatin arranged the signing of the

Treaty of Shimoda The Treaty of Shimoda (下田条約, ''Shimoda Jouyaku'') (formally Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and Russia 日露和親条約, ''Nichi-Ro Washin Jouyaku'') of February 7, 1855, was the first treaty between the Russian Empire, a ...

in 1855 which established diplomatic contacts between the two nations, and the

Treaty of Tientsin The Treaty of Tientsin, also known as the Treaty of Tianjin, is a collective name for several documents signed at Tianjin (then romanized as Tientsin) in June 1858. The Qing dynasty, Russian Empire, Second French Empire, United Kingdom, and t ...

in 1858. Consulates were set up in several Japanese cities, and with the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

in 1868, restrictions on contact with foreign nations were further relaxed. The first consulate was opened in

in 1858 by Iosif Goshkevich. A consulate in the Imperial capital of Edo, later Tokyo, was first established in 1872 by consul , and further developed into the embassy under his successor

Karl von Struve Karl von Struve (26 November 1835 – 26 June 1907) (russian: Кирилл Васильевич Струве) (Alternate spelling in U.S.: de Struve) was a Russian nobleman and politician. He served, in turn, as Russian Envoy Extraordinary and Min ...

. Relations were interrupted with the outbreak of the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

in 1904, but were re-established after the signing of the

Treaty of Portsmouth A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal pers ...

. After the February Revolution in 1917, contacts were maintained between Japan and the

Russian Provisional Government The Russian Provisional Government ( rus, Временное правительство России, Vremennoye pravitel'stvo Rossii) was a provisional government of the Russian Republic, announced two days before and established immediately ...

, and the diplomatic mission continued to function, albeit without accreditation, after the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...

later that year. The Japanese government established diplomatic relations with the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

in 1925. The Soviet Union fought the brief

Soviet–Japanese War The Soviet–Japanese War (russian: Советско-японская война; ja, ソ連対日参戦, soren tai nichi sansen, Soviet Union entry into war against Japan), known in Mongolia as the Liberation War of 1945 (), was a military ...

towards the end of the Second World War, and afterwards refused to sign the

Treaty of San Francisco The , also called the , re-established peaceful relations between Japan and the Allied Powers on behalf of the United Nations by ending the legal state of war and providing for redress for hostile actions up to and including World War II. It w ...

, which normalised relations between Japan and the former allied powers. Full diplomatic relations were not resumed until after the

Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956 The Soviet Union did not sign the Treaty of Peace with Japan in 1951. On October 19, 1956, Japan and the Soviet Union signed a Joint Declaration providing for the end of the state of war and for the restoration of diplomatic relations between ...

. Diplomatic relations continued throughout the twentieth century, and since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, ambassadors have been exchanged between Japan and the Russian Federation.

List of representatives (1871 – present)

Representatives of the Russian Empire to Japan (1871–1917)

Representatives of the Russian Provisional Government to Japan (March 1917 – unaccredited after October 1917)

Representatives of the Soviet Union to Japan (1925–1991)

Representatives of the Russian Federation to Japan (1991 – present)

References

{{Lists of ambassadors of Russia Japan

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...