The Foreign Ministry headquarters is seen in this file photo taken on Feb. 2, 2019. (Mainichi)
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi lodged a protest Wednesday over the Russian premier's visit in July to a disputed island in telephone talks with his counterpart Sergey Lavrov.
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin visited Etorofu Island, one of the Russian-held islands claimed by Japan, marking the first trip to one of the islets off Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido by a Russian premier since August 2018. The island is known in Russia as Iturup.
Shortly after taking office in September last year, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in a telephone conference that the two countries will aim to promote territorial negotiations based on the 1956 joint declaration between Japan and the former Soviet Union.
The declaration states the smaller two of the four islands, Shikotan and the Habomai islet group, will be handed over to Japan following the conclusion of a peace treaty.
The long-standing territorial row over the four islands also including Kunashiri has prevented Japan and Russia from concluding a postwar peace treaty.
The ministers discussed promotion of joint economic development on the four disputed islands, launched by Suga's predecessor Shinzo Abe and Putin, as well as exchange projects by former islanders.
In the one-hour telephone talks, their first since last October, the two ministers also affirmed the importance of advancing bilateral cooperation in a range of fields including economic and global issues such as climate change, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.
The two ministers agreed to step up efforts at multiple levels to foster stronger Japan-Russia relations, it said.
Russia wants Japan to recognize that the four islands were legitimately acquired following Tokyo's surrender in the war in August 1945, while Japan takes the position that their seizure was illegal.
Font Size S M L Print Timeline 0