Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev harshly criticized Japan at an event on Sunday to commemorate victory over the country in World War Two, as Tokyo steps up sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
September 3 is the day after Japan signed surrender documents in 1945. Earlier this year, Russia renamed its commemoration day as "the Day of Victory over Militaristic Japan and the end of World War Two."
Medvedev now serves as the deputy chair of Russia's Security Council. Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev also attended the ceremony in the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in the Far Eastern region of Sakhalin.
They watched a parade of soldiers and laid flowers at a monument.
Russia holds events every year to mark the former Soviet Union's victory over Japan. But it is unusual for senior officials of President Vladimir Putin's administration to attend them.
While stressing victory over Japan in his speech, Medvedev also accused Tokyo of expanding "military infrastructure" and complicating the situation in the Asia-Pacific region.
He added that Japan is supporting a "new Nazi regime," repeating a claim that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's administration is neo-Nazi.