Just go kill yourselves, Russian Deputy Prime Minister tells the Japanese

Following protests by the Japanese government against Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's official visit to the Kuril Islands (which are disputed territory between Japan and Russia), Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin joked on Twitter that the Japanese should commit ritual suicide, rather than complain about Moscow's control of the islands.

The tweet states that this should be done using the Japanese Seppuku (or “Harakiri”) method, a form of ritual suicide performed by by slicing one’s stomach horizontally with a blade. 

If they were real men, they would do the traditional Harakiri and just calm down already. All they do is make noise.

On August 22, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev paid an official visit to the island of Irtup, one of the Kuril Islands in the Pacific Ocean. This is an island chain that has been the object of a longstanding territorial dispute between Russia and Japan.

During his visit, Medvedev announced that Russia will not take Tokyo’s opinions into account with regard to official visits to the disputed territories

The Japanese government voiced its official protest with regard to Medvedev’s visit. Earlier, the Russian ambassador to Tokyo had been called into a meeting at the Japanese Foreign Ministry to discuss Medvedev’s trip.