Japan protests over Russian PM’s visit to disputed land

Japan on Saturday lodged a protest over Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to one of four disputed Pacific islands which have strained ties between the two countries since the end of World War Two.

Kishida said that the Iturup Island was an ancestral territory of Japan and the visit of Dmitry Medvedev was at odds with the Japanese standpoint and hurt the feelings of the Japanese people, which was regretful.

On Saturday, Russia also published a government resolution affirming the country’s claim to the seabed and natural resources in the central part of the Okhotsk Sea between the Kuriles and the Russian mainland, adding more than 50,000 square km (19,000 square miles) to Russia’s territory.

“Everything is perfectly modern here”, Medvedev was quoted as saying on his arrival.

Kishida had been expected to prepare the ground for Russian President Vladimir Putin to make a long-delayed visit to Japan this year to seek a breakthrough in the 70-year-old territorial dispute. “It is extremely regrettable”, Hayashi said, quoted by a foreign ministry official.

While on the island, Medvedev said Japan’s attitude would not stop more such visits.

Meanwhile, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Japan has no intention of terminating talks with Russia and will negotiate with the Russian side for a summit between Abe and Putin on the sidelines of worldwide conferences from autumn.

Suga, the top government spokesman, said Japan had conveyed its position to Moscow “at various levels” before Medvedev made the trip.

Soviet troops seized the island region in 1945 after Japan accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration for its World War II surrender.

He and the forum participants took selfies and unfurled a giant Russian flag on the island’s shore for a group picture to mark Russia’s flag day, according to Medvedev’s Instagram account.

The cosmodrome is created to ease Russia’s dependence on space launches in Baikonur, in Kazakhstan.

Medvedev also visited the islands in 2012, and Russian Federation held military exercises there in 2014.