Russia protests Japan’s ‘hostility’ over island visit, summons envoy

MOSCOW/TOKYO, July 26

Russia rejected what it said was a hostile Japanese diplomatic protest following a visit to a disputed island chain on Monday by the Russian Prime Minister, saying he could go wherever on Russian territory he wanted.

A top Japanese government spokesman said earlier on Monday that Tokyo was lodging an official diplomatic protest over the visit by Mikhail Mishustin to one of four Russian-held islands to which Japan lays claim.

Japan, which Russian news agencies said had summoned the Russian ambassador over the matter, calls the islands the Northern Territories, while Russia calls them the Kuril Islands.

The territorial dispute over the islands dates to when the then-Soviet Union seized them at the end of World War-II, and has prevented the two countries from signing a formal peace treaty.

Mishustin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying during the visit that Moscow planned to set up a special economic zone with no customs duties and a reduced set of taxes on the island chain.

Russia’s foreign ministry summoned the Japanese ambassador in Moscow to protest over Tokyo’s behaviour. “Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov conveyed a strong protest to the Japanese side in connection with hostile steps taken by official Tokyo in recent days,” the ministry said in a statement. —Reuters

Disputed territory

• Japan calls the disputed territory the Northern Territories. Russia, on the other hand, calls it Kuril Islands
• The territorial dispute dates back to the era when the then USSR captured the area during the end of World War-II
• The two countries haven’t signed a formal peace treaty

Tokyo: must advance peace negotiations

The Japanese embassy said in a statement that ambassador Toyohisa Kozuki, in his own expression of protest, described Russian PM Mikhail Mishustin’s trip as “going against our country’s consistent position on the Northern Territories”. The Japanese side “strongly demands Russia to take constructive actions to advance peace treaty negotiations”, the statement said.

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Moscow: Russian Internet watchdog Roskomnadzor has blocked jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s website, navalny.com, his team said on Monday. Reuters