Russia has criticised Japan’s condemnation of President Vladimir Putin’s trip to Iturup Island, saying its sovereignty and jurisdiction over the Southern Kuril Islands are sacrosanct.
Japanese Ambassador Akira Muto was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, where Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin conveyed a formal protest.
Moscow expressed its vehement objection to the anti-Russia statements made by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.
Takaichi stated that all the country’s islands are its “inherent territories” following Putin’s visit to Iturup after he attended the finale of the Pacific Fleet drills in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
But Russia insists that the disputed islands were transferred to it at the end of World War II, citing relevant agreements of the Allied Powers and the UN Charter.
The federation warned that any attempts by the Japanese side to directly or indirectly challenge the “obvious reality” are unacceptable and illegitimate.
Moscow, however, denounced Tokyo’s compliance with the West’s sanctions policy against Russia and its support for Ukraine, asserting its right to take countermeasures.
The Foreign Ministry also replied to the US Ambassador to Japan, George Glass, who declared Washington’s recognition of Japan’s sovereignty over the island Putin toured.
A statement by spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova referred Glass to the international agreements reached during the final stages of the war, including those made at the Yalta Conference on February 11, 1945.
She said the USSR accepted the requests of the US and Britain to join the fight against Japan, while Washington and London “agreed to the transfer of the Southern Kuril Islands to our country.”
The diplomat noted that after Tokyo signed the Instrument of Surrender on September 2, 1945, General Douglas MacArthur excluded the Kuril Islands from Japan’s territory.
“Russia’s sovereignty and jurisdiction over them are beyond question,” Zakharova declared, accusing the American envoy of “encouraging Japanese revanchism and revisionism.”