MOSCOW - Japan's ambassador to Russia appeared at the Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday after being summoned amid a spat over disputed islands off Hokkaido that has intensified following Russian President Vladimir Putin's first-ever visit there last week.
Ambassador Akira Muto's appearance came a day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said his ministry had summoned the envoy following the Japanese government's protest over Putin's trip to one of the four islands, collectively called the Northern Territories by Japan and the Southern Kurils by Russia.
During his meeting with Muto, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin warned that his country reserves the "right to take appropriate countermeasures" against Japan, given Tokyo's continued policy of sanctioning Moscow as well as its support for Kyiv, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Muto, for his part, "appropriately explained" Japan's stance, according to the Japanese Embassy in Moscow. He left the ministry building after about 20 minutes and did not answer questions from reporters.
The Russian ministry also said in a statement that Galuzin "conveyed a strong protest to the Japanese diplomat over anti-Russia statements made by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi" regarding Putin's visit.
Emphasizing that the Southern Kurils were "transferred to our country following World War II," the statement said, "Any attempts by the Japanese side to directly or indirectly call this obvious reality into question are categorically unacceptable and illegitimate."
Japan says the Soviet Union illegally seized the islands -- Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan and the Habomai islet group -- soon after Japan's surrender in World War II on Aug. 15, 1945. Russia claims the action was legitimate.
The decades-old territorial dispute, which has kept the two countries from signing a postwar peace treaty, flared up after Putin traveled to Etorofu on Thursday, touring locations such as a fish-processing plant and meeting with local residents.
The Japanese government has strongly protested the trip, with Takaichi underscoring that the Northern Territories are an "inherent part of Japanese territory both historically and under international law" and that the visit by a sitting Russian president was "incompatible with Japan's consistent position" on the islands.
Later Thursday, Motegi summoned Russian Ambassador to Japan Nikolay Nozdrev to the Japanese Foreign Ministry to protest.
Lavrov, speaking at a press conference on Monday, criticized Japan for having "crossed the line of decency with their completely unacceptable statements" that the Russian president cannot visit "any part of the Russian Federation."
Russia summoned the Japanese ambassador as soon as its officials learned of the reactions of Takaichi and Motegi but was told by the Japanese Embassy that Muto was unable to appear last Friday or Monday, either because he was "not in Moscow" or was "unwell," Lavrov said at the press conference.
Ties between Japan and Russia have remained strained amid Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine since 2022, which prompted Japan and its Group of Seven peers to impose sanctions on Moscow.
