MOSCOW, April 13. /TASS/. Today’s Japan, apparently, does not consider itself bound by the restrictions imposed after World War II, Nikolay Patrushev, Russian presidential aide and Maritime Board head, said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

"Today, Japan, apparently, no longer considers itself bound by the restrictions imposed on it after the end of World War II," Patrushev told the daily.

The presidential aide recalled that 85 years ago, the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact allowed the Soviet Union to avoid a two-front war, and Japan to gain time to refine its strategic plans in the Asia-Pacific region. "How Japan’s aggressive plans ended in 1945 is well known," the official emphasized.

"Eighty-five years later, it is once again emerging as an aggressive military-political player. The Japanese Navy is no longer a self-defense force, but the fourth or fifth most powerful in the world," Patrushev noted.

According to him, the Japanese Navy has more than fifty destroyers and two dozen submarines. Furthermore, it even has aircraft carriers, "which were previously disguised as aircraft-carrying destroyers," the Russian Maritime Board chief added.