RUSSIA: Russian and Japanese foreign ministers open tense talks in Moscow amid raised tensions in the two nations' territorial dispute over Kuril Islands

Record ID: 463696

  • Title: RUSSIA: Russian and Japanese foreign ministers open tense talks in Moscow amid raised tensions in the two nations' territorial dispute over Kuril Islands
  • Date: 12th February 2011
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FEBRUARY 11, 2011) (REUTERS ACCESS ALL) EXTERIOR RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY GUEST HOUSE JAPANESE FOREIGN MINISTER SEIJI MAEHARA AND DELEGATION SEATED AT TALKS SEIJI MAEHARA AT TALKS RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SERGEI LAVROV MAKING OPENING REMARKS AT TALKS RUSSIAN DELEGATION AT TALKS JOURNALISTS JAPANESE DELEGATION AT TALKS SEIJI MAEHARA MAKING REMARKS DURING TALKS JAPANESE DELEGATION AT TALKS SEIJI MAEHARA IN TALKS RUSSIAN DELEGATION AT TALKS PROTEST IN PROGRESS OUTSIDE JAPANESE EMBASSY GATE LEADING TO JAPANESE EMBASSY PLAQUE READING 'EMBASSY OF JAPAN' JAPANESE FLAG PROTESTERS HOLDING BANNER READING: 'THE KURILS ARE OUR LAND' PROTESTERS SHOUTING 'WE WON'T GIVE AWAY THE KURILS' PROTESTER HOLDING STICKS DRY PEAS ON GROUND SYMBOLIZING OLD RUSSIAN PUNISHMENT OF KNEELING ON HARD PEAS VARIOUS PROTESTERS ACTING OUT BEATING AN ACTOR WEARING SIGNS READING 'JAPAN' ON UNDERWEAR AND 'NAOTO KAN' PROTESTER MAKING SPEECH (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER SAYING: "Russia has the right to own the Kuril Islands. We won't allow the results of World War II to be reconsidered." PROTESTS SHOUTING 'THE KURILS ARE OUR LAND' IN FRONT OF JAPAN EMBASSY VARIOUS CAR ENTERING JAPAN EMBASSY
  • Embargoed: 27th February 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Reuters ID: LVA1V4THC6W3OIL7J5FJUDMBLLFM
  • Story Text: Russia warned Japan on Friday (February 11) that its recent behaviour in a dispute over a group of Pacific islands was unacceptable, maintaining pressure on Tokyo during a visit by Japan's foreign minister.
    Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Japanese counterpart Seiji Maehara that Tokyo's actions had clouded his visit, which came during escalating tension over islands Russia calls the Southern Kurils and Japan calls the Northern Territories, according to reporters.
    "Frankly speaking, I was hoping to receive you in Moscow in a more favourable political context than the one which has formed in the recent days because of...a number of unacceptable activities during the so-called Northern Territories day,"
    Lavrov said at the start of talks at a mansion in Moscow. These remarks were not audible on camera.
    Russian President Dmitry Medvedev infuriated Tokyo in November by making the first visit by a Kremlin leader to the islands, which Soviet troops seized at the end of World War Two.
    His trip provoked a storm of protest from Tokyo, which wants the return of the desolate islands.
    Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan called Medvedev's trip "an unforgivable outrage" on Feb. 7, a day known in Japan as Northern Territories Day. On the same day Japanese protesters Japanese nationalist radicals desecrated a Russian flag outside the Russian Embassy in Tokyo.
    Members of the youth branch of Russia's ruling party United Russia staged a protest outside the Japanese Embassy in Moscow on Friday.
    Chanting slogans supporting Russian sovereignty over the Kuril Islands, United Russia demonstrators 'beat' an actor wearing underpants with the word 'Japan' inscribed on them.
    Maehara said on Friday that Moscow and Tokyo should try to find a way to overcome the dispute.
    "There is a territorial problem between Russia and Japan but we should rack our brains to overcome it," Maehara said. "This meets the interests of both countries...and will strengthen economic ties."
    The former Soviet Union occupied the islands off northern Japan at the end of World War Two and the row has weighed on bilateral ties since, preventing the two countries from signing a formal peace treaty despite growing economic ties.
    Japan is also embroiled in a territorial dispute with China and the government's handling of the rows has been heavily criticised at home, adding to a fall in Prime Minister Naoto Kan's support ratings.
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