Editing Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact (section)

==Effects==
Later in 1941, Japan, as a signatory of the [[Tripartite Pact]], considered denouncing the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact, especially after the [[Operation Barbarossa|German invasion of the Soviet Union]], but it made the crucial decision to keep the pact and to [[Nanshin-ron|expand southwards]] by instead invading the European colonies in [[Southeast Asia]].

It is possible that if the Germans had won the [[Battle of Stalingrad]], Japan would have invaded Siberia. General [[Tomoyuki Yamashita]], who was known for his achievements in the [[Battle of Singapore]], was sent to Manchuria in July 1942 and tasked with organizing troops for the invasion.<ref name="Slavinskiĭ2004">{{cite book|author=Boris Nikolaevich Slavinskiĭ|title=The Japanese-Soviet Neutrality Pact: A Diplomatic History, 1941-1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rddhxSKGQ9oC|year=2004|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-32292-8|page=103}}</ref>

At the [[Yalta Conference]] in February 1945, Stalin secretly agreed to enter the war against Japan in exchange for American and British recognition of certain Soviet territorial claims in Asia. The Soviet offensive was to start within three months after the [[Victory in Europe Day|end of the war in Europe]].