Tokyo, 6 September, /AJMEDIA/
Russia said Tuesday it has scrapped an agreement with Japan to allow Japanese former residents to visit disputed islands off Hokkaido without visas, triggering a protest from Tokyo as tensions between the two nations remain high over Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Under the reciprocal program, visas are also waived for travel to Japan by residents of the Russian-held, Japan-claimed islands, known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia.
A Russian lawmaker attributed the action to Japan’s participation in Western sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
“It followed as a response to the illegal sanctions pressure exerted by the Japanese government and its joining the West’s Russophobic policy,” Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the international committee of the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, was quoted as telling Tass news agency.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi condemned Russia’s unilateral action, saying it is “totally unacceptable.”
Hayashi said at a news conference Japan has yet to be informed by Russia about the matter, and that Tokyo has lodged a protest with Moscow through diplomatic channels.
The dispute over the islands — Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan and the Habomai islet group — stems from their seizure by the Soviet Union, Russia’s predecessor state, in the weeks following Japan’s World War II surrender on Aug. 15, 1945.
The territorial row has prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty.
In another reaction to Japan’s sanctions on Russia, Moscow announced in March the suspension of negotiations for a postwar peace treaty with Japan, and its withdrawal from joint economic activities with Tokyo on the disputed islands.
