Strong protest expressed to Japanese ambassador over Tokyo's anti-Russian statements

MOSCOW, August 18. /TASS/. Japanese Ambassador to Russia Akira Muto was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry to hear a strong protest over the anti-Russian statements made by the Japanese leadership following Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Iturup Island.

"On August 18, the Japanese Ambassador to Russia was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry. Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin expressed a strong protest to the Japanese diplomat over the anti-Russian statements made by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Iturup Island," the Foreign Ministry said.

The Russian side informed the Japanese diplomat that Russia's sovereignty and jurisdiction over the southern Kuril Islands are inviolable: these territories were ceded to Russia following World War II and are enshrined in the relevant agreements of the Allied Powers and the UN Charter. "Any attempts by the Japanese side to directly or indirectly question this obvious reality are absolutely unacceptable and illegal," the Foreign Ministry emphasized.

"In the context of Tokyo's continued adherence to the West's collective sanctions policy against Russia, as well as Japan's support for the Kiev regime, the head of the Japanese diplomatic mission was informed that Moscow reserves the right to take appropriate countermeasures," the Russian ministry added.

The Japanese diplomat was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry following Tokyo's "protest" over Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Iturup, one of the Kuril Islands. The ambassador stayed in the Foreign Ministry’s building for 25 minutes and left without comment. Akira Muto could have arrived earlier, but, as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted in response to a TASS question, the Japanese embassy "hesitated" and said the diplomat would not be able to visit the ministry on either August 14 or 17, without clearly explaining the reason. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS that Akira Muto "felt sharply better" after Lavrov's remarks and decided to visit the Russian Foreign Ministry on August 18.

On August 13, Putin personally visited Iturup Island for the first time. In response, Tokyo expressed a "strong protest" to the Russian side, emphasizing that all "northern territories," as Tokyo calls the southern part of the Kuril Islands, including Iturup, are Japan's "ancestral territory."

Japanese politicians have previously repeatedly expressed interest in maintaining relations with Moscow and advocated for continued purchases of Russian energy resources. Since the mid-20th century, Russia and Japan have been negotiating a peace treaty following World War II. Disagreement over rights to the southern Kuril Islands remains the main obstacle to this. After the war, the entire archipelago was incorporated into the USSR, but Japan disputes the ownership of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, and a group of small uninhabited islands.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly emphasized that Russia's sovereignty over these territories, which is formalized under international law, is beyond question.