Russian Foreign Ministry protests Japan's designation of South Kurils as its territory in G20 materials
MOSCOW. July 4 (Interfax) - Moscow has protested to Tokyo over the designation in the materials used by Japan for covering the G20 summit in Osaka of the South Kuril Islands as Japanese territory.
"A note protesting the use by Japan in the coverage of the G20 summit of materials, including audiovisual, in which the South Kuril Islands of Russia were designated as the territory of Japan was given to a Japanese embassy diplomat in the Russian Foreign Ministry on July 2," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told a briefing in Moscow on Thursday.
The note states "abuse by the Japanese side of the functions of the G20 chair to promote unfounded territorial claims to our country, which contradict relevant documents stating the outcomes of WWII, including the UN Charter," she said.
"We have to say that such actions contradict the intention repeatedly declared by Japanese Prime Minister Abe to refrain from steps that are capable of inflicting damage on the political position of the other side and can generally negatively impact the atmosphere of Russian-Japanese relations. The Japanese side was notified of this," Zakharova said.