Photo/Illutration Upper House member Mueno Suzuki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Oct. 10 after meeting with Nobuyuki Baba, chief of Nippon Ishin. (Koichi Ueda)

Upper House member Muneo Suzuki resigned from Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) before the party could expel him for his unannounced visit to Russia.

“I should not set a negative precedent concerning the status of a Diet member by being expelled,” Suzuki said on Oct. 10, explaining his decision to leave the party.

“I will continue to be a friend of Russia for the sake of Japan’s national interests,” he said. “In my own capacity, I will do my best in negotiations over the Northern Territories and for a stable energy supply.”

Suzuki, a veteran lawmaker who has long been involved in Japan-Russia relations, visited Moscow from Oct. 1 to 5 and met with senior Russian government officials.

Nippon Ishin requires party lawmakers to report an overseas travel plan in advance. Suzuki’s side informed the party of his trip to Russia after he left Japan.

Party chief Nobuyuki Baba and Secretary-General Fumitake Fujita met with Suzuki on Oct. 10 to inform him of the party’s decision to expel him for breaking the rule.

But Suzuki offered to quit the party, wrote a resignation letter on the spot, and handed it to the party leaders, according to Fujita.

“I caused trouble for the party,” Suzuki was quoted as saying. “I want to stand down.”

Baba decided to respect Suzuki’s decision and allowed him to leave the party instead of being scratched from the party roster.

While the party was considering punishing Suzuki, it surfaced that he had told a Russian state news agency that he was confident Moscow would prevail in its war with Ukraine.

Although such an opinion goes against the stance of the party and the government, Nippon Ishin decided to expel Suzuki only over the unannounced trip to Russia.

“It is extremely difficult to punish a politician over action based on his conviction as a politician,” Fujita said.

Suzuki, who hails from Hokkaido and heads the Hokkaido-based regional New Party Daichi, won a seat in the Upper House election in July 2019 after joining Nippon Ishin.

A longtime member of the Liberal Democratic Party, Suzuki served in the Lower House for eight terms before losing office in 2010, when his conviction for bribery was finalized.

“Apart from anything else, a ceasefire is important,” Suzuki told a news conference in Sapporo on Oct. 8, referring to Russia’s war in Ukraine. “A prolonged war will take a toll on children, women and elderly people. Given the differences in national strength, Russia will never lose.”

Hiroshi Shiratori, a political scientist at Hosei University’s Graduate School of Public Policy and Social Governance, said the fact that Nippon Ishin decided to expel Suzuki raises questions about whether the party allows its members to express diverse opinions.

He said the decision was too grave if it was solely made over flawed travel procedures.

Shiratori added that the party appears to be going along with public opinion critical of Suzuki’s comments about Russia’s war in Ukraine, playing the populist card.

(This article was written by Kei Kobayashi and Shinobu Konno.)

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