Moscow Summons Japanese Embassy's Representative to Protest Over South Kurils Exhibition

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Russian Foreign Ministry has summoned a representative of the Japanese Embassy in Moscow over an exhibition in Tokyo dedicated to the southern Kuril Islands.

"On 17 December, a representative of the Japanese Embassy in Moscow was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry. During the conversation, the ministry expressed its strong protest against an exhibition in Tokyo which opened earlier this month dedicated to the southern Kuril Islands in the context of Japan's illegal territorial claims to them," the statement says.

Despite the official warning of the Russian Foreign Ministry about a similar event in 2020, the Japanese organisers repeatedly took this provocative step, once again failing to find a place among the exhibits for such documents as the 1945 Surrender Act, according to which Japan pledged "to honestly fulfil the terms of the Potsdam Declaration," the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty with Tokyo, renouncing all claims to the Kuril Islands, as well as the UN Charter, which irrevocably secured Russia's sovereignty over the islands.

The ministry added that Moscow views joint exercises between Japan and the United States near Russia's borders as a threat to the country's security in the Far East and a potential challenge.

"In addition, the Japanese diplomat was told that Moscow is concerned about the Japanese-US naval exercises that began on 6 December in the area of ​​Hokkaido," the statement says.

It noted that the Russian side would continue to monitor closely such actions that demonstrate Tokyo's stubborn reluctance to take into account Russian security concerns, which may include the refusal to provide Japanese territory for destabilising military activity jointly with the United States.