Moscow to draw up work schedule of national administration irrespective of Japanese view - Foreign Ministry
MOSCOW. Aug 22 (Interfax) - Moscow has no intention to keep the Japanese standpoint in mind in drawing up the work schedule of the Russian leadership and government members, and Tokyo should focus on constructive efforts towards an improvement of the atmosphere of Russian-Japanese relations and the development of mutually advantageous cooperation.
"The Japanese reaction to the visit of Russian Government Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to the Iturup Island is another proof that Tokyo continues to dispute the universally recognized outcomes of WWII on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the war's end, which is a date significant to the international community," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement released on Saturday on the occasion of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's reaction to the working trip of Medvedev to Iturup.
"Such public rhetoric makes one doubt the assurances of the incumbent Japanese government that they respect historical truth and memories of that war, which brought death and suffering to tens of millions of citizens in East Asian states," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
"We would like to reiterate that we have no intention to take into account the Japanese viewpoint in drawing up the work schedule of leaders and government members, and trips to that Russian region and the consistent implementation of the federal targeted program of the socioeconomic development of the Kuril Islands (the Sakhalin region) in 2016-2025 will continue," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
"Tokyo officials should better focus on constructive efforts towards improving the atmosphere of Russian-Japanese relations and developing mutually advantageous cooperation on which agreements have been reached on the summit level," the ministry said.
The Japanese news agency Jiji said that Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida summoned Russian Ambassador to Japan Yevgeny Afanasyev on Saturday to present him a note of protest against the visit of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to the South Kuril Island of Iturup.
Kishida said that the Iturup Island was an ancestral territory of Japan and the visit of Dmitry Medvedev was at odds with the Japanese standpoint and hurt the feelings of the Japanese people, which was regretful.
Jiji quoted the foreign minister as telling the press that Japan was concerned about repeating unilateral actions of Russia as regards the northern territories and insisted on a constructive position of Russia for the sake of further development of Japanese-Russian relations, including the resolution of the peace treaty issue.
The Russian Embassy to Japan said Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida did not hand a note of protest to Russian Ambassador to Japan Yevgeny Afanasyev. "The ambassador visited the Japanese Foreign Ministry but no one handed him a note of protest," a representative of the Russian Embassy in Tokyo told Interfax on the phone.
He said the trip of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to the Iturup Island was mentioned at the meeting with the Japanese foreign minister. "There was a conversation dedicated to a number of issues in Russian-Japanese relations, among them the trip of Dmitry Medvedev to Iturup," he said.
The representative said that Japanese media reports claiming that Kishida's visit to Moscow had been rescheduled were "not quite correct." "his information is not quite correct, rather the Japanese press is speculating on the issue. There was no agreement on the visit to Moscow. The date of the visit was in the process of coordination, so there was nothing to reschedule, the issue was not discussed," he said.
Medvedev is paying a working visit to the Kuril Islands on Saturday.
Several weeks before the Russian prime minister departed for the Kurils, the Japanese government protested against the visit and said that it would be a big impediment to the development of political dialogue between Japan and Russia.
The day before the visit Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga asked the Russian prime minister not to visit Iturup.
Moscow responded that "Russian officials would continue to visit the Kuril Islands irrespective of the Japanese standpoint." "We are not taking into consideration the position of Tokyo and we do not intend to do so in the future," a representative in the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry's information and press department issued a statement later to say that Tokyo's claims for the South Kuril Islands were unfounded and disregarded the outcomes of WWII.
"We have to state that by publicly replicating its unfounded claims for the South Kuril Islands, Japan again openly demonstrates its neglect for the universally recognized outcomes of WWII on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the war's end, which is a date significant to the international community," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a commentary.
The territorial dispute between Japan and Russia has been dragging on since the end of WWII, when all the Kuril Islands were attached to the former Soviet Union. Japan disputes the belonging of the Islands of Iturup, Kunashir and Shikotan and the Habomai Chain. Russia reiterates that the South Kurils became part of the Soviet Union after WWII and Russian sovereignty over that territory was beyond doubt.
