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Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has accused Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida of shameful subservience to the US and suggested he should ritually disembowel himself.
His remarks on Saturday were the latest in a long line of shocking and provocative statements from Medvedev, who was once seen as a western-leaning reformer but has reinvented himself as an arch-hawk since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
Speaking at a news conference in Washington on Saturday, a day after a summit with US president Joe Biden on Friday, Kishida made no mention of Medvedev’s comment and was not asked about it.
Japanese officials travelling with Kishida did not immediately respond to requests for comment and, in Japan, no one was immediately available for comment on the remarks at the prime minister’s official residence or the foreign ministry outside normal working hours.
