MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/. Moscow has informed Tokyo that it cannot approve the consultations on fishery in Russia’s territorial waters due to anti-Russia restrictions, according to a commentary by the Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zakharova released on Sunday.
"Amid anti-Russia measures taken by the Japanese government, which obviously contradict the agreement dated 1998 on strengthening and developing neighborliness, the Russian side has informed Tokyo that it cannot approve intergovernmental consultations on implementing this agreement (on Japan’s fishery in the Russian territorial waters around the southern Kuril Islands - TASS)," the diplomat said.
"The agreement between the government of the Russian Federation and the government of Japan on certain cooperation issues in the area of marine living resources’ fishery dated 1998 regulates Japan’s fishery in the Russian waters near the southern Kuril Islands and holds a specific place in the range of the Russian-Japanese fishery cooperation," Zakharova noted. "When signing the document, the sides relied on the intention to facilitate the development of good neighbor relations," she said, adding that "for more than 20 years the agreement was implemented not without problems, of course, but efficiently in general."
"As the special military operation in Ukraine started the Russian-Japanese relations began degrading," the spokeswoman emphasized.
"The administration of Fumio Kishida started imposing hostile measures against Russia, violating all norms and rules of international law, including 15 packages of personal and sectoral ‘sanctions’," she stressed.
Russia is totally against any "protests" of the Japanese side due to this decision, she said. "In order to return to a normal dialogue Japan’s neighbors should bestow respect to Russia, the intention to improve bilateral relations. So far we do not notice such a wish of the Japanese government," Zakharova added.