Japan was outraged by the Russian exercises in the Kuril Islands that started in late September. The Japanese Foreign Ministry has already protested to Moscow through diplomatic channels, writes TASS.
Japanese Cabinet Secretary General Katsunobu Kato said such actions are unacceptable.
Earlier, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga promised to move forward in resolving the dispute with Russia over the Kuril Islands. He stressed that he will make every effort to get the situation off the ground, and the Kuril Islands are a problem that needs to be solved, and not left to descendants.
As a result of the Second World War, a peace treaty was not concluded between Moscow and Tokyo. The main obstacle to its signing was the unresolved territorial dispute over the southern part of the Kuriles – the Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan islands and the Habomai group of islands.
The Japanese side calls the South Kurils “northern territories” and does not recognize Russian sovereignty over them. Moscow, in turn, does not recognize the very fact of the territorial dispute. Washington, like Tokyo, considers the South Kuril Islands to be part of Japan.
