TOKYO -- The new U.S. ambassador to Japan publicly criticized his Russian counterpart on Thursday, bringing the standoff between Washington and Moscow to Tokyo as tensions rise over Ukraine.
Mikhail Galuzin, the Russian ambassador, on Wednesday told the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan that recent comments by the Japanese government were "counterproductive" to neighborly relations. Japan has pledged to take "strong action" to sanction Russia if it attacks Ukraine, as negotiations stall on a formal peace treaty between Tokyo and Moscow.
