The Government of Japan expressed Russia a protest due to training shooting at the Kunashir Island, which is part of the Southern Group of the Kuril Islands. Reports about it TASS.
According to the agency, the protest is associated with the strengthening of the military presence of Russian forces in the area of Kuril, which contradicts Tokyo’s position. It was expressed in diplomatic channels. It is noted that Moscow warned the Japanese side about the shooting in this region.
Earlier, the Foreign Minister of Japan Esiimas Hayashi stressed that the question of the belonging of the Kuril Islands remains the main unresolved problem in relations between Moscow and Tokyo. He also noted the importance of an intergovernmental agreement on the creation of a visa-free exchange program between Japanese prefectures and the southern part of Kuril.
Due to the dispute about the belonging to the southern part of the Kuril Islands, Moscow and Tokyo cannot sign a peace treaty on the results of the Second World War. Japan believes the islands of ITUURUP, Kunashir, Shikotan and a group of Habmioma Islands with its “northern territories”. In turn, Russia does not recognize the fact of the territorial dispute itself.