Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited Iturup, one of four disputed Kuril Islands claimed by both Russia and Japan, prompting a formal protest from Tokyo.
The islands were seized by the Soviet Union in the final days of the Second World War. Japan continues to claim them, with the dispute remaining an obstacle to a formal peace treaty between the two countries.
- Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called the visit “absolutely unacceptable”.
- Japan summoned Russian Ambassador Nikolai Nozdrev to lodge a protest.
- Russia said the islands are an integral part of its territory.
- Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said the islands “were, are, and will remain” Russian territory.
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