Medvedev angers Japan with visit to disputed isles

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev infuriated Japan on Monday with a visit to the Kuril islands, a remote territory at the heart of a decades-long dispute with Tokyo.

Japan summoned Russia's ambassador to Tokyo after Medvedev flew into the island of Kunashir, on the first visit by a Russian leader to the isles that have prevented a post-World War II peace treaty between the two neighbours.

"As Japan has kept its position that the four northern islands belong to Japanese territory, the president's visit there is very regrettable," Prime Minister Naoto Kan told parliament.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday responded by calling  Japan's reaction "unacceptable" and summoning Japan's ambassador to Moscow in a reciprocal measure.

Medvedev was "visiting Russian land," Lavrov said at a news conference in Moscow, adding that "demarches (steps) such as these are unacceptable."

The Kuril Islands, which lie north of Japan's Hokkaido island, have been controlled by Moscow since they were seized by Soviet troops at the end of World War II, but Tokyo claims the southernmost four as Japanese territory.

The trip is likely to complicate ties ahead of Medvedev's visit to Japan for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit this month, but analysts said it was a signal to Tokyo that Moscow is not willing to give up the islands.

Medvedev, who stayed on Kunashir for less than four hours, told residents: "There will be a better life here," and pledged unspecified investments in the islands.

Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara -- whose country is embroiled in another territorial row with China -- said the visit "hurts Japanese public sentiment and is extremely regrettable," and called in the Russian ambassador.

The ambassador, Mikhail Bely, said he told Maehara it was "Russia's domestic issue," according to Jiji Press. "I requested Japan deal with it cool-headedly and in a balanced manner," he added.

During his stay, Medvedev took photos of a pier overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and also inspected a geothermal energy station, a fish processing plant and a kindergarten.

In September, Medvedev called the islands "a very important region of our country" and announced plans to visit, prompting a warning from Japan that it could lead to worsening ties.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had said on Saturday that the visit should not affect relations.

"If Japan had reacted calmly to Medvedev's wish to visit the Kurils, it would not have led to tensions in relations," said Valery Kistanov, head of the Center for Japanese Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

"Medvedev showed that he is a strong leader and that Russia is not a country whose leader can take advice from abroad where to go and where not to go."

The row has however prevented Russia and Japan from signing a peace treaty to formally end World War II hostilities, impeding the development of ties.

The four islands -- known in Russian as Iturup, Shikotan, Habomai and Kunashir and in Japanese as Etorofu, Shikotan, Habomai and Kunashiri -- are part of a volcanic archipelago that stretches some 1,300km.

Japan has baulked at suggestions Russia could hand over two of the islands or the nations could develop them jointly, insisting on the return of all four.

In 1956, the Soviet Union signed a declaration offering to give back the two smallest islands but talks never progressed. Nationalists and Communists reacted furiously when Moscow raised the plan again during Boris Yeltsin's presidency.

President Vladimir Putin from 2004 several times raised the theoretical possibility that Russia could hand over two of the four island to Japan.

After Medvedev was elected in 2008, Japan hailed him for showing a "strong desire to solve this problem," but there was no subsequent breakthrough.

In 2009, Japan's parliament passed a law calling the Kurils "an integral part" of the country and saying it would "make the utmost efforts to realise the early return of the islands".

The Russian foreign ministry responded by calling the law "unacceptable."

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.