List of ambassadors of Russia to Japan

{{Infobox official post

| post = Ambassador

| body = the Russian Federation to Japan

| image =File:Nick Nozdrev.jpg

| incumbent ={{ill|Nikolai Nozdrev|ru|Ноздрев, Николай Станиславович}}

| insignia = MID emblem.png

| incumbentsince =19 January 2024

| department = Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Embassy of Russia in Tokyo

| style = His Excellency

| reports_to = Minister of Foreign Affairs

| seat = Tokyo

| appointer = President of Russia

| termlength = At the pleasure of the President

| first =

| formation =

| website = {{URL|https://tokyo.mid.ru/web/tokyo-en|Russian Embassy in Japan}}

| insigniacaption = Emblem of the Russian Foreign Ministry

| unofficial_names =

| native_name =

| residence =

}}

The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Japan is the official representative of the President and the Government of the Russian Federation to the Prime Minister and the Government of Japan.

The ambassador and his staff work at large in the Embassy of Russia in Tokyo.{{cite web|url=https://tokyo.mid.ru/web/tokyo-en|title=The Embassy of the Russian Federation to Japan|publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia)|accessdate=22 October 2019}} There are consulates general in Osaka, Niigata, and Sapporo, and a consulate in Hakodate.{{cite web|url=http://osaka.kdmid.ru/en.aspx|title=Consulate General of Russia in Osaka|publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia)|accessdate=22 October 2019}}{{cite web|url=https://niigata.mid.ru/|title=Генеральное консульство России в Ниигате|publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia)|accessdate=22 October 2019|language=Russian}}{{cite web|url=https://sapporo.mid.ru/|title=Russian Consulate General in Sapporo, Japan|publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia)|accessdate=22 October 2019}}{{cite web|url=https://www.embassypages.com/missions/embassy21319/|title=Russian Consulate in Hakodate, Japan|publisher=embassypages.com|accessdate=22 October 2019}} The post of Russian Ambassador to Japan is currently held by {{ill|Nikolai Nozdrev|ru|Ноздрев, Николай Станиславович}}, incumbent since 19 January 2024.{{cite web|url=https://tokyo.mid.ru/web/tokyo-en/welcome-message-of-the-ambassador|title=WELCOME MESSAGE OF THE AMBASSADOR|publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia)|accessdate=22 October 2019}}

History of diplomatic relations

The first official representative of Russia to Japan was Yevfimiy Putyatin in the early 1850s. Putyatin arranged the signing of the Treaty of Shimoda in 1855 which established diplomatic contacts between the two nations, and the Treaty of Tientsin in 1858. Consulates were set up in several Japanese cities, and with the Meiji Restoration in 1868, restrictions on contact with foreign nations were further relaxed.{{cite web|url=https://tokyo.mid.ru/web/tokyo-en/tokyo|title=Embassy in Tokyo|publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia)|accessdate=22 October 2019}} The first consulate was opened in Hakodate in 1858 by Iosif Goshkevich.{{cite web|url=https://tokyo.mid.ru/web/tokyo-en/hakodate|title=Consulate in Hakodate|publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia)|accessdate=22 October 2019}} A consulate in the Imperial capital of Edo, later Tokyo, was first established in 1872 by consul {{interlanguage link|Yevgeny Byutsov|ru|Бюцов, Евгений Карлович}}, and further developed into the embassy under his successor Karl von Struve. Relations were interrupted with the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, but were re-established after the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth.

After the February Revolution in 1917, contacts were maintained between Japan and the Russian Provisional Government, and the diplomatic mission continued to function, albeit without accreditation, after the October Revolution later that year. The Japanese government established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union in 1925. The Soviet Union fought the brief Soviet–Japanese War towards the end of the Second World War, and afterwards refused to sign the Treaty of San Francisco, which normalised relations between Japan and the former allied powers. Full diplomatic relations were not resumed until after the Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956. Diplomatic relations continued throughout the twentieth century, and since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, ambassadors have been exchanged between Japan and the Russian Federation.