TOKYO, March 22. /TASS/. Tokyo expressed its protest to Russia’s Ambassador to Japan Mikhail Galuzin over Moscow’s decision to abandon peace treaty talks, Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters on Tuesday.
"Russia’s actions are totally inappropriate, unacceptable, and we express a resolute protest. Japan’s position on the matter was conveyed to Russia’s ambassador to Japan [Mikhail] Galuzin," he said.
Kyodo agency reported, Galuzin was summoned to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida deemed Russia’s decision to terminate the talks unacceptable.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said earlier Moscow terminated peace treaty talks with Tokyo in light of unilateral restrictions imposed by Japan against Russia over Ukraine. It stated that a decision had been made to terminate visa-free trips by Japanese citizens on the basis of agreements on visa-free exchanges between Russia’s South Kuril Islands and Japan of 1991 and the 1999 agreement on simple travel rules for those Japanese who would like to visit their former places of residence on the islands.
Russia said it was quitting the dialogue with Japan on joint economic activity on the South Kuril Islands and blocked the prolongation of Japan’s status of a sectoral dialogue partner of the Organization of Black Sea Economic Cooperation.
Russia and Japan have been negotiating a peace treaty after World War II since the mid-20th century. The main stumbling block to this is the issue of the ownership of the southern Kuril Islands. After the end of World War II, all Kuril Islands were incorporated into the Soviet Union. However, Japan challenged the ownership of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan islands and a number of uninhibited islands.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly said that Russia’s sovereignty over these islands, which is committed to paper in international documents, cannot be called to question.