Russian Ambassador to Tokyo Nikolay Nozdrev was summoned to the Japanese Foreign Ministry after Vladimir Putin visited Etorofu, the largest island in the Kuril Islands, on August 13. Japan conveyed its objection to the visit during the meeting and asked Nozdrev to immediately relay the message to the Russian government.
Tokyo reiterates its sovereignty claim
The Japanese Foreign Ministry said the islands it calls the “Northern Territories” are under Japan’s sovereignty and constitute an integral part of the country’s territory. The ministry said Putin’s visit to Etorofu was inconsistent with Tokyo’s position on the issue and caused deep regret.
The ministry said Japan had taken every opportunity to convey its position on the Northern Territories to Russia, but the visit to Etorofu took place despite those objections.
The Japanese Foreign Ministry said the visit had an extremely negative impact on already complicated Japan-Russia relations and hurt the feelings of the Japanese people. The ministry said such steps were unacceptable.
Russian mission in Tokyo to issue an official statement
The Russian Embassy in Tokyo said an official comment on the visit would be issued later.
Message from the exercise before Putin’s visit to Etorofu
Before traveling to Etorofu, Putin had gone to southern Sakhalin to take part in the final stage of Pacific Fleet exercises. During the closing phase of the exercises, he said Russia did not threaten Japan and had no territorial claims against Japan.
At the end of World War II, in 1945, the Soviet Union took control of the Kuril Islands, which stretch between the Kamchatka Peninsula and Japan’s island of Hokkaido. The dispute over the southern part, which Japan calls the “Northern Territories,” remains one of the main obstacles to the signing of a peace treaty between the two countries.
