Russia summons Japanese Ambassador over Kuril Islands dispute

MOSCOW, August 18. /TASS/. Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin has reminded Japanese Ambassador to Moscow Akira Muto, who was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry, that the Kuril Islands are an integral part of Russia, and the country paid a huge price for them during World War II, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"Today, [the ambassador] arrived and received a strong protest. Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin expressed it. These are Russian territories, they are part of our country under national and international law. They are part of Russia, because our people paid a huge price for them," Zakharova told Channel One.

Russia summoned the Japanese ambassador following Tokyo’s protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the Kuril Island of Iturup. Muto left the Russian Foreign Ministry after 25 minutes without comment.

Citing Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, saying that Putin’s trip had "hurt the feelings of the Japanese people and is completely unacceptable," Zakharova noted that the Russian Foreign Ministry reminded the Japanese ambassador that "if they are so sensitive, then they should probably think about their actions, including supporting terrorist attacks against civilians on a regular basis, turning to anti-Russian rhetoric at the official level, and without any need and any reason fully joining anti-Russian sanctions, which are no sanctions at all, no longer just unlawful sanctions, but a real full-scale sanctions war."

"Our country lost 27 million people. How many did it lose in the Far East? What experiments did the Japanese military machine conduct - the very country that committed itself to never repeating such actions after our people had defeated it?"

"No. They attacked us, they brought so much pain and grief to our people, so they must first understand the feelings of our people. Only then can we talk about their feelings," the diplomat said.

The foreign ministry spokeswoman told the Japanese that "the next time they remember their hurt feelings," they should ask themselves "whether Tokyo is not offending the feelings of Japanese citizens by doing everything possible to foster and literally favor the terrorist Kiev regime." "Those are the feelings of the Japanese people that are truly being mocked by Tokyo," the diplomat concluded.

On August 13, President Vladimir Putin personally visited the Kuril Island of Iturup 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 called for continued purchases of Russian energy resources.

Russia and Japan have been negotiating a post-World War II peace treaty since the mid-20th century. The main stumbling block is the issue of ownership of the South Kuril Islands. After the end of World War II, all Kuril Islands were incorporated into the Soviet Union. However, Japan claimed the Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan islands and a group of small uninhabited islands as its own. The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly emphasized that Russia’s sovereignty over these territories, which is established under international law, is beyond doubt.