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Russian PM Visits Island Contested With Japan
- By The Financial District
- Jul 26, 2021
- 2 min read
Russia's Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Monday visited a Russian-held island claimed by Tokyo off Hokkaido for the first time since a constitutional amendment last July barred the country from ceding territory, Russian officials said.
As per Kyodo News, the visit to Etorofu Island, known as Iturup in Russia, also marked the first trip to one of the disputed islets off Japan's northernmost main island by a Russian prime minister since Mishustin's predecessor Dmitry Medvedev's visit in August 2019.
In Tokyo, Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori lodged a protest with Russian Ambassador to Japan Mikhail Galuzin over Mishustin's visit, a ministry official said. Earlier in the day, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said Mishustin's trip "conflicts with Japan's consistent position on the Northern Territories and is very regrettable."
Mishustin, the second most powerful figure in Russia after President Vladimir Putin, inspected a hospital on the island Monday as part of a four-day trip to the Russian Far East and Siberia, according to the Russian government.
He then headed to a seafood processing complex on the island, according to local reports. Prior to his trip, Tokyo had asked Moscow for the prime minister not to visit the island, Japanese government sources said. The disputed islands known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia were seized by the Soviet Union following Japan's surrender in World War II in 1945.
Tokyo has long sought the return of the islands, which also include Kunashiri, Shikotan and the Habomai islet chain.
Putin on Friday instructed Mishustin to pay "special attention" to the islands and said the prime minister came up with "a good proposal" regarding joint economic activities on the islands that the two countries aim to implement.
The two countries have agreed to carry out joint projects on the islands in such areas as aquaculture, wind power, and waste reduction as a trust-building exercise.
