All news

Tokyo protests Russian officials’ plans to visit southern Kurils — Foreign Ministry

Japan demanded the visit to the Iturup Island by two Russian deputy prime ministers Dmitry Grigorenko and Marat Khusnullin be canceled

TOKYO, October 13. /TASS/. Japan’s Foreign Ministry has lodged a protest with Russia over the forthcoming trip by two deputy prime ministers, Dmitry Grigorenko and Marat Khusnullin, to the Iturup Island, Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tomoyuki Yoshida told the media on Wednesday.

"Russian officials’ visits to the islands run counter to our official stance on the issue of northern territories (Japan’s customary reference to the southern Kuril islands)," Yoshida said, adding that Japan had demanded the visit be canceled.

Earlier, the Russian government’s press service said two deputy prime ministers, Dmitry Grigorenko and Marat Khusnullin, were leaving for the Far East to look into progress in implementing Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin’s instructions. Their working schedule includes an inspection of a fish processing plant on Iturup.