THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
April 20, 2022 at 16:04 JST
People believed to be Russian diplomats and their family members arrive at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on April 20. (Hiroyuki Yamamoto)
Russian diplomats apparently departed from Japan on April 20, about two weeks after the Foreign Ministry had announced their expulsion due to their country’s actions in Ukraine.
A group of Russian diplomats and their families gathered on the premises of the Russian Embassy in Tokyo’s Minato Ward in the morning.
Followed by a musical performance, the group of 20 or so, including a young girl holding a stuffed animal, boarded a bus.
As staffers waved, the bus departed from the embassy. The windows of the bus were curtained off.
TASS, Russia’s state news agency, posted a video on social media showing a bus leaving the Tokyo embassy with comments that the embassy staff and trade representatives had left on a bus to Haneda Airport and were expected to take off within a few hours.
The plane believed to be carrying the diplomats and their families was seen departing from the airport at about 12:15 p.m.
The Foreign Ministry on April 8 announced that it has ordered eight Russians including those who work at the embassy to leave Japan citing the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the deaths of many civilians.
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki said at a news conference that he had seen the news reports about the Russian diplomats leaving but declined to comment on the prospects of their departure.
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