Belarus will close its embassy in Finland effective Sept 1, 2026, a government resolution published on the country's national legal portal on the 21st shows. The resolution was adopted by the Council of Ministers on the 20th. Belarus and Finland established diplomatic relations in 1992; the Belarus embassy in Helsinki opened in Dec 2011.

The Kyrgyz presidential office said on social media it welcomed China’s decision to include Kyrgyz citizens in the 240-hour transit visa-free policy and Hainan’s 30-day visa-free entry. The presidential office’s foreign policy director Abdumutalip said the move should help facilitate bilateral trade and tourism cooperation.

Russia Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova told a regular briefing on the 20th that Japan has for decades refused to acknowledge the outcome of World War II and called on Tokyo to fully accept the war’s result and stop whitewashing its wartime aggression. She said Japan has not publicly admitted its invasions in the Asia‑Pacific, has not sincerely apologized to victimized neighbors, has failed to uphold its constitution’s peace clause, and is pursuing a path of remilitarization. Zakharova cited Prime Minister Takaichi’s remarks at the national war‑dead memorial, government offerings to Yasukuni Shrine, and visits by the defense minister and other officials to the shrine as evidence of that trend.