Japanese embassy calls Russia's decision to halt peace treaty talks 'absolutely unacceptable'

MOSCOW. March 22 (Interfax) - The Japanese embassy in Moscow has described Russia's decision to suspend negotiations on signing a peace treaty as "lamentable and unacceptable."

"The unilateral decision adopted by Russia not to continue these negotiations is extremely lamentable and absolutely unacceptable," the embassy told Interfax.

Furthermore, the suspension by Russia of joint economic activity on the South Kuril Islands "demonstrates strong disrespect toward the feelings of former residents of the islands and their families," it said.

"The history of considering joint economic activity on the four northern islands [the Japanese name for the South Kuril Islands] is based on the 2016 agreement between [Japanese] Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and [Russian] President Vladimir Putin. This decision adopted by the Russian side is totally unacceptable to Japan," the embassy said.

Japan considers the Russian special military operation in Ukraine as unacceptable and "categorically protests against the unilateral announcement of response measures and attempts to place responsibility on the Japanese side," it said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday announced measures of response to the decisions adopted by the Japanese government.

In particular, the Foreign Ministry said that in these conditions, Russia does not intend to continue negotiations with Japan on a peace treaty "due to the impossibility of discussing the signing of a fundamental document on bilateral relations with a state which pursues a blatantly unfriendly position and seeks to harm the interests of our country."

A decision has been adopted to stop Japanese citizens' visa-free trips on the basis of the 1991 agreement on visa-free exchanges between Russia's South Kuril Islands and Japan and the 1999 agreement, which maximally simplified visits by former Japanese residents of the South Kuril Islands to their former places of residence, it said.

Russia also announced that it is withdrawing from the dialogue with Japan on establishing joint economic activity on the South Kuril Islands.