House of Councilors member Muneo Suzuki met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko on Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, becoming the first Japanese lawmaker to visit Russia since the start of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Suzuki, a member of opposition Nippon Ishin no Kai and a longtime champion of close ties with Russia, was visiting Moscow from Sunday for a trip through Thursday, according to his office.
Suzuki was considering visiting Russia in the spring of this year but stopped short of making such a trip at the request of his party's leadership.
At a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, the top government spokesman, noted that Japan has urged its nationals to avoid traveling to Russia "regardless of" the purpose of their visit.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said Suzuki did not report his plan to the Japanese government in advance. The trip had been reported to the Upper House in advance, but not to the government.
Nippon Ishin is considering taking disciplinary action against him for failing to comply with the necessary travel procedures with the party when going abroad, its lawmakers said.
During the Monday meeting, the Russian side praised Suzuki for making an important contributions to the development of bilateral ties, while criticizing Japan for purposefully destroying the decades-old accumulated wealth of interstate cooperation by imposing sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine just to please the United States, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The Russian side also complained that Tokyo's policy does not meet the national interests of Japan or the aspirations of the Japanese people, the ministry said.
In response to the Japanese sanctions, Russia in March last year announced the suspension of bilateral territorial and peace treaty talks.
The Kremlin is apparently trying to split public opinion in Japan by welcoming Suzuki on one side and emphasizing the sanctions' negative impact on bilateral relations on the other.