Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has sharply criticized Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi over their statements concerning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Iturup Island.
Zakharova described the Japanese officials’ comments as “deeply outrageous and absolutely unacceptable,” insisting that Iturup, like the other Kuril Islands, is an integral part of Russia.
She accused senior Japanese officials of attempting to lecture Moscow about which regions of its own territory the Russian president should or should not visit.
“We categorically reject these statements as politically inappropriate, offensive and, of course, legally null and void,” Zakharova said, describing the remarks as another example of what she called Tokyo’s “unpragmatic policy” toward Russia.
Zakharova also accused Japan of contributing to the deterioration of Russian-Japanese relations by joining Western sanctions against Moscow and supporting Ukraine. She used the Kremlin’s rhetoric in referring to the Ukrainian government as a “Nazi regime.”
“Official Tokyo, which has violated all legal norms through its complicity in the collective West’s Russophobic policy, including by imposing illegal restrictions, is hardly in a position to lecture others on international law or on the need to care about the future of Russian-Japanese relations,” Zakharova said.
She maintained that Russia’s sovereignty and jurisdiction over the islands were not open to question and accused Tokyo of promoting “revisionist narratives” nearly 81 years after Japan signed its instrument of surrender in September 1945.
Her remarks came after Takaichi criticized Putin’s visit to the disputed Kuril Islands, calling it “absolutely unacceptable.”
“Putin’s visit has worsened the Japanese people’s attitude toward Russia,” Takaichi told reporters, maintaining that the islands are Japanese territory “historically and under international law.”
The territorial dispute over the southern Kuril Islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories, has remained a major obstacle in relations between Moscow and Tokyo for decades. Russia administers the islands, while Japan claims sovereignty over Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai islets.
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