Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accused Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday of shameful subservience to the United States and suggested he should ritually disembowel himself.
It was the latest in a long line of shocking and provocative statements from Medvedev, who was once seen as a Western-leaning reformer but has reinvented himself as an arch-hawk since Russia invaded Ukraine last year.
In Tokyo, no one was immediately available for comment on the remarks at either the prime minister’s official residence or the Foreign Ministry outside normal working hours.