Authors

Yaroslav Shulatov¹;  ¹ Waseda University, Japan

Discussion

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, most of the world's nations became involved in the global war between the two military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. However, the Soviet-Japanese relations during World War II were fundamentally different from those between any of the other "great powers". Though in opposing camps, Moscow and Tokyo were not at war with each other, keeping diplomatic relations and contacts, which was described by G.A. Lensen as a “strange neutrality”. The USSR remained one of the few and most important diplomatic channels for Japan until the Soviet offensive in Manchuria in August 1945. The state and dynamics of Soviet-Japanese relations in 1941-1945 are of particular interest for understanding the history of the World War II in general. Diplomats played an important role in the strange neutrality between the two countries, and their impressions can shed new light on wartime Soviet policy towards Japan.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the position of the USSR towards Japan in 1941-1945 from the point of view of Soviet diplomats working in Japan. The key figure is Yakov Malik, who was appointed to the embassy in 1939, who in 1942 became the youngest ambassador in Tokyo. 

The paper is based on recently declassified documents from Soviet archives. These include notes of Soviet representatives regarding the meetings and talks with Japanese politicians, diplomats, economic circles etc.; the diaries of Soviet diplomats; analytical notes on Japan’s domestic political, economic and other issues; reviews of the Japanese press, and other documents of profound importance and value. Materials regarding the position of the Japanese Foreign Minister Matsuoka Yosuke on the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact of 1941; the Soviet diplomats' assessments of Japan's entry into the war with the United States (late 1941/beginning of 1942); the attempts of Japanese elite to obtain Soviet mediation at the final stage of the war (the summer of 1945) are among the archival documents that deserve special attention. A comprehensive analysis of these materials allows us to take a new look at the internal political situation and foreign policy of the Soviet Union during World War II and Soviet policy decisions towards Japan both during wartime and postwar periods.