By Tamura Yu
MOSCOW – A Russian state news agency says the Federal Security Service (FSB), the Russian intelligence agency, has disclosed classified documents for the first time that say “Japan was preparing to carry out subversive activities in the Soviet Union.” The declassification coincided with the 76th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s entry into the war against Japan in the final days of World War II on Aug. 9.
The Soviet Union took part in the war against Japan in August 1945 by unilaterally breaking the Japan-Soviet Union neutrality pact, and occupied the four northern islands after Japan accepted the Potsdam Declaration. The declassification of documents is believed to be intended to justify its participation in the war against Japan and illegal occupation of the Northern Territories.
The declassified documents had been held by the Committee for State Security (KGB), the FSB’s predecessor. The Russian news agency reported on the contents of the documents.
The FSB alleges that the documents, which are believed to have been created by Japan’s Kwantung Army in July 1943 after Japan and the Soviet Union concluded their neutrality pact, include descriptions of training based on the scenario of the destruction of a railway, airfield, and communication line on Soviet soil.
