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Putin visits Iturup
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Kuril Islands for the first time on Thursday, prompting protests from Japan over the disputed island chain that Japan calls the Northern Territories.
“It "hurts the feelings of the Japanese people and is absolutely unacceptable"”
Reuters reported that Putin visited the island known in Russia as Iturup and in Japan as Etorofu, and that Tokyo said the visit made any improvement of relations difficult.
Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in a televised statement that it “hurts the feelings of the Japanese people and is absolutely unacceptable,” and Reuters said the trip came two days before Japan marks 81 years since its surrender ended World War Two.
Russian state media said Putin visited the Yasny fish-processing plant on Iturup after overseeing navy drills in Russia’s Far East, and AP said he also visited a hospital and a school on Iturup and met with the governor of Russia’s Sakhalin region, Valery Limarenko.
Tokyo’s protest and quotes
Japan’s Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi criticized the visit, telling reporters that the disputed islands “are an inherent part of Japan’s territory both historically and under international law,” and AP said Japan “strongly protests” against Putin’s visit to Iturup.
France 24 reported that Japan summoned the Russian ambassador in Tokyo to lodge a “strong protest” against Putin’s surprise visit, and it said Motegi told the ambassador that the visit would “have an extremely negative impact on Japan-Russia relations.”
In a televised statement carried by Reuters, Takaichi said Japan “hopes that the Russian side will take the seriousness of this matter fully to heart,” while Al Jazeera reported that Takaichi called the visit “absolutely unacceptable” and said it “offends the sentiments of the Japanese people.”
Reuters also reported that on Thursday the Russian and Chinese ambassadors to Japan, Nikolai Nozdrev and Chinese Ambassador Wu Jianghao, issued a joint statement pledging to oppose attempts to revise the results of World War Two and warning against re-militarisation in the Asia-Pacific.
What’s at stake next
The dispute over the Kurils has kept Japan and Russia from signing a peace treaty formally ending their hostilities, and AP said decades of diplomatic efforts to negotiate a settlement haven’t produced any visible results.
“Decades of diplomatic efforts to negotiate a settlement haven’t produced any visible results.”
Euronews said the four contested islands were seized by Russia during World War II and have remained a source of friction, while it added that the islands have gained importance since the end of the conflict by providing strategic military bases to the Kremlin.
AP reported that Putin said the current status of the Kuril Islands “is enshrined in international documents as a reality that arose following the outcome of the World War II,” and it said he also told a warship crew that Russia was prepared “to seek a solution with the goal of concluding a peace treaty with Japan.”
In Sakhalin, Reuters said Putin held a meeting “on ensuring the security of Russia's eastern borders,” and Euronews said the Kremlin posted a video of Putin in the Kuril Islands after he traveled there following his visit to Sakhalin.
