Russian President Dmitry Medvedev infuriated Japan yesterday with a visit to the Kuril Islands, a remote territory at the heart of a decades-long dispute with Tokyo.
Japan summoned Russia’s ambassador to Tokyo after Medvedev flew to the island of Kunashir on the first visit by a Russian leader to the isles, which have prevented a post-World War II peace treaty between the two neighbors.
“As Japan has kept its position that the four northern islands belong to Japanese territory, the president’s visit there is very regrettable,” Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan told parliament.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday responded by calling Japan’s reaction “unacceptable” and summoning Japan’s ambassador to Moscow in a reciprocal measure.
Medvedev was “visiting Russian land,” Lavrov said at a news conference in Moscow, adding that “demarches [steps] such as these are unacceptable.”
The Kuril Islands, which lie north of Japan’s Hokkaido Island, have been controlled by Moscow since they were seized by Soviet troops at the end of World War II, but Tokyo claims the southernmost four as Japanese territory.
The trip is likely to complicate ties ahead of Medvedev’s visit to Japan for the APEC summit this month, but analysts said it was a signal to Tokyo that Moscow is not willing to give up the islands.
Medvedev, who stayed on Kunashir for less than four hours, told residents: “There will be a better life here,” and pledged unspecified investments in the islands.
Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara — whose country is embroiled in another territorial row with China — said the visit “hurts Japanese public sentiment and is extremely regrettable,” and called in the Russian ambassador.
Russian Ambassador Mikhail Bely said he told Maehara it was “Russia’s domestic issue,” according to Jiji Press.
“I requested Japan deal with it cool-headedly and in a balanced manner,” he said.
During his stay, Medvedev took photos of a pier overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and also inspected a geothermal energy station, a fish processing plant and a kindergarten.
In September, Medvedev called the islands “a very important region of our country” and announced plans to visit, prompting a warning from Japan that it could lead to worsening ties.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had said on Saturday that the visit should not affect relations.
“If Japan had reacted calmly to Medvedev’s wish to visit the Kurils, it would not have led to tensions in relations,” said Valery Kistanov, head of the Center for Japanese Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. “Medvedev showed that he is a strong leader and that Russia is not a country whose leader can take advice from abroad where to go and where not to go.”
The row has, however, prevented Russia and Japan from signing a peace treaty to formally end World War II hostilities, impeding the development of ties.
The four islands — known in Russian as Iturup, Shikotan, Habomai and Kunashir, and in Japanese as Etorofu, Shikotan, Habomai and Kunashiri — are part of a volcanic archipelago that stretches 1,300km.
Japan has balked at -suggestions Russia could hand over two of the islands or the nations could develop them jointly, insisting on the return of all four.
In 1956, the Soviet Union signed a declaration offering to give back the two smallest islands, but talks never progressed.
Nationalists and Communists reacted furiously when Moscow raised the plan again during former Russian president Boris Yeltsin’s time in power.
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