{"id":76205,"date":"2026-08-18T12:19:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T12:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/76205\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T12:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T12:19:08","slug":"russia-summons-japanese-envoy-following-putins-visit-to-disputed-islands-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/76205\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia summons Japanese envoy following Putin’s visit to disputed islands"},"content":{"rendered":"

MOSCOW \u2013 Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned the Japanese ambassador to protest Tokyo’s condemnation of President Vladimir Putin’s trip<\/a> to Kuril Islands, the Moscow-controlled Pacific archipelago that is claimed by both countries.<\/p>\n

Last week, Putin visited Iturup, one of the four southernmost islands of the chain, which Japan calls the Northern Territories. The Soviet Union took them from Japan in the final days of World War II, and the dispute has kept the countries from signing a peace treaty formally ending their hostilities.<\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Putin\u2019s visit, his first to the islands, was \u201cincompatible with the Japanese position on the Northern Territories\u201d and is \u201cabsolutely unacceptable.\u201d She said the visit was a further blow to already-strained ties between the two countries over Ukraine, and that Moscow should understand the consequences.<\/p>\n

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Tokyo \u201cstrongly protests\u201d Putin\u2019s visit to Iturup, which Japan calls Etorofu, noting that “the Northern Territories, including Etorofu Island, are Japan\u2019s inherent territory both historically and from the perspective of international law.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin met with the Japanese Ambassador Akira Muto to lodge a formal protest over the \u201canti-Russia\u201d statements by Takaichi and Motegi.<\/p>\n

\u201cRussia\u2019s sovereignty and jurisdiction over the southern Kuril Islands are absolutely unshakable,\u201d Galuzin told Muto, according to the Foreign Ministry. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese territories passed to our country as a result of World War II that was enshrined in the relevant agreements of the Allied Powers and the U.N. Charter,\u201d the ministry said. \u201cAny attempts by the Japanese side to directly or indirectly call this obvious reality into question are absolutely unacceptable and unlawful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Galuzin told the ambassador that in view of Tokyo’s adherence to Western sanctions against Russia and its support for Ukraine, \u201cMoscow reserves the right to take appropriate countermeasures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Decades of diplomatic efforts to negotiate a settlement haven\u2019t produced any visible results. Moscow over the years has also bolstered its military presence on the Kurils<\/a> in moves that appeared to underscore its firm stance in the dispute.<\/p>\n

Speaking last week aboard a Russian warship taking part in the drills in the Pacific, Putin said Moscow previously \u201chad developed constructive relations with a number of Japanese leaders, including the tragically deceased former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who did much to bring Japan and Russia closer together, to align our positions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Japan imposed sanctions on Russia after it sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and \u201clisted Russia as a source of primary threats,\u201d a change in that constructive relationship, he added.<\/p>\n

Russia remains ready \u201cto cooperate with all its neighbors, including Japan and other states in the region,\u201d Putin said. <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MOSCOW \u2013 Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned the Japanese ambassador to protest Tokyo’s condemnation of President Vladimir…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76206,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48958,8,48988,358,296,17578,213],"class_list":["post-76205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-akira-muto","tag-japan","tag-mikhail-galuzin","tag-sanae-takaichi","tag-shinzo-abe","tag-vladimir-putin","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}