Iran Press/ Europe: On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in response to a request for help by the heads of the Donbas republics. He stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukraine but aimed to demilitarize and denazify the country.
Russian government entities and state-owned companies have been targeted over events in Ukraine, with the websites of the Kremlin, flagship carrier Aeroflot and major lender Sberbank among those to have seen outages or temporary access issues in recent weeks.
The Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday said it will withdraw from negotiations with Japan for a peace treaty to formally end World War II hostilities in response to sanctions over the war in Ukraine.
Relations between Japan and Russia have always been complex, and the two countries did not sign a peace treaty after World War II due to a dispute over four small islands that make up the Kuril Archipelago.
In addition to halting the peace talks, Russia will end visa-free travel to a chain of Russian-controlled islands called the Northern Territories by Tokyo and the Southern Kurils by Russia, according to the ministry.
Along with the U.S. and Europe, Japan has imposed heavy economic sanctions on Russia following its military operation in Ukraine. Japan is damaging Russian interests by taking an “openly unfriendly” stance toward the country, the ministry said in its statement.
