The ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Japan is the official representative of the president and the government of the Russian Federation to the prime minister and the government of Japan.
The ambassador and his staff work at large in the Embassy of Russia in Tokyo. There are consulates general in Osaka, Niigata, and Sapporo, and a consulate in Hakodate. The post of Russian ambassador to Japan is currently held by , incumbent since 19 January 2024.
History of diplomatic relations
The first official representative of Russia to Japan was Yevfimiy Putyatin in the early 1850s. Putyatin arranged the signing of the Treaty of Shimoda in 1855 which established diplomatic contacts between the two nations, and the Treaty of Tientsin in 1858. Consulates were set up in several Japanese cities, and with the Meiji Restoration in 1868, restrictions on contact with foreign nations were further relaxed. The first consulate was opened in Hakodate 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. Relations were interrupted with the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, but were re-established after the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth.
After the February Revolution in 1917, contacts were maintained between Japan and the Russian Provisional Government, and the diplomatic mission continued to function, albeit without accreditation, after the October Revolution later that year. The Japanese government established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union in 1925. The Soviet Union fought the brief Soviet–Japanese War towards the end of the Second World War, and afterwards refused to sign the Treaty of San Francisco, 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. 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) Russian Empire to Japan (1871–1917) NameTitleAppointmentTerminationNotesChargé d'affaires and Consul General1 January 187115 May 1873Karl von StruveChargé d'affaires and Consul General (before 3 December 1874)Minister-Resident (3 December 1874 – 1 July 1876)Envoy (from 1 July 1876)15 May 187312 January 1882Roman RosenInterim Chargé d'affaires 22 November 187712 August 1879Mikhail BartolomeyEnvoy12 January 1882 30 November 1882Envoy10 April 1883 20 November 1885Envoy28 January 1886 28 July 1892Envoy28 July 1892 30 June 1896Alexey ShpeyerInterim Chargé d'affaires 25 February 1896 6 November 1897Roman RosenEnvoy4 February 189718 November 1899Alexander IzvolskyEnvoy18 November 1899 24 October 1902Roman RosenEnvoy190228 January 1904Russo-Japanese War – Diplomatic relations interrupted (1904–1905)George BakhmeteffEnvoy19061908Envoy19081916Envoy19163 March 1917
Russian Provisional Government to Japan (March 1917–unaccredited after October 1917) NameTitleAppointmentTerminationNotesAmbassador3 March 19171921Chargé d'affaires 19211925
Soviet Union to Japan (1925–1991) NameTitleAppointmentTerminationNotesViktor KoppPlenipotentiary Representative25 February 1925 31 January 1927Valerian DovgalevskyPlenipotentiary Representative5 March 192721 October 1927Alexander TroyanovskyPlenipotentiary Representative14 November 1927 24 January 1933Konstantin YurenevPlenipotentiary Representative29 January 1933 16 June 1937Plenipotentiary Representative27 July 1937 29 September 1939Konstantin SmetaninPlenipotentiary Representative (until 9 May 1941)Ambassador (after 9 May 1941) 29 September 193928 May 1942Yakov MalikAmbassador28 May 1942 9 August 1945Soviet–Japanese War – Diplomatic relations interrupted (1945–1956)Ivan TevosianAmbassador30 December 1956 30 March 1958Nikolai FedorenkoAmbassador15 June 1958 16 July 1962Vladimir VinogradovAmbassador16 July 1962 3 April 1967Oleg TroyanovskyAmbassador3 April 196717 April 1976Dmitry PolyanskyAmbassador17 April 1976 11 February 1982Ambassador11 February 1982 27 February 1985Peter AbrassimovAmbassador27 February 1985 13 May 1986Ambassador13 May 1986 7 August 1990Ambassador7 August 199025 December 1991
Russian Federation to Japan (1991–present) NameTitleAppointmentTerminationNotesAmbassador25 December 19916 September 1996Aleksandr PanovAmbassador6 September 199625 December 2003Alexander LosyukovAmbassador2 March 200428 December 2006Ambassador28 December 2006 20 February 2012Yevgeny AfanasyevAmbassador20 February 2012 29 January 2018Ambassador29 January 2018 25 November 2022Ambassador19 January 2024
References