The Russian president will visit more of the disputed Kuril Islands, despite growing anger from Tokyo, the Kremlin chief of staff said during talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara on Saturday.
Tensions have escalated since November, when Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made the first visit by a Russian leader to one of the islands, 7,000 km from Moscow.
Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov visited military units on the islands last week.
"The president and other officials will continue visiting Russia's regions, including the Kuril Islands," Sergei Naryshkin, head of the presidential administraton, said.
He said Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan's remarks on Tuesday that Medvedev's visit was an "inexcusable rudeness" meant that "further discussions of the territorial dispute are meaningless."
He added however that Russia "is still willing to discuss the peace treaty."
The Soviet troops seized the four islands in the North Pacific - known as the Northern Territories in Japan - at the end of World War Two. The conflicting claims have stopped Russia and Japan from signing a peace treaty.
On Wednesday, Medvedev ordered the deployment of additional weapons on the islands, describing them as a "strategic region" of Russia. Maehara responded by saying that Tokyo's resolve "remains absolutely unwavering."
At a news conference after talks with Maehara on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would be pleased to see Chinese, Korean and Japanese investment in the islands.
MOSCOW, February 12 (RIA Novosti)
