Japan's reaction to Medvedev's visit to disputed islands predictable - analyst
MOSCOW. July 3 (Interfax) - The Japanese government's negative reaction to Tuesday's visit of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to one of the disputed South Kuril Islands was predictable, said the head of a Russian think tank.
"This reaction from the Japanese is an absolutely traditional thing. The reason is that the Japanese side always stresses that it considers the Kurils to be its own territory. Such reactions to anything that has to do with the so-called 'northern territories' will be coming from Tokyo for quite a long time," Sergei Markov, director of the Institute of Political Studies and a member of the Russian Public Chamber, told Interfax.
Earlier, Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba said Medvedev's visit to the Kunashir Island would have an adverse effect on Japanese-Russian relations. The Russian Foreign Ministry responded with a statement counterattacking Gemba.
Markov predicted that Japan would always keep the South Kuril Island issue on its agenda regardless of any change in its relations with Russia.
"The current Japanese premier is pursing a Russian policy that involves a search for a compromise and in principle he is willing to avoid pedaling the Kuril issue too hard. But that doesn't mean that this issue will come off the agenda that Tokyo sets for its dialogue with Moscow," Markov said.
"A while ago there were tough demonstrative actions on the part of the Japanese. In response to those actions, Russia has begun to practice the visits of top officials to those islands. The Japanese are reaping what they have sown, and they realize this full well," he said.