TOKYO (Sputnik) – According to the Russian Pacific Fleet’s newspaper, Russia had deployed the BAL mobile anti-ship missile system on Kunashir Island and installed the Bastion missile system on Iturup Island.
"We are attaching importance to that and following elaboration we will react in a proper manner," Kishida said, as quoted by the Kyodo news agency.
The foreign minister pointed out that it was necessary to solve the problem of the southern Kuril Islands, known as the Northern Territories in Japan, to avoid such problems.
The Kuril Islands are the subject of the long-standing territorial dispute between Russia and Japan. Japan lays claims to Kunashir, Iturup, Shikotan islands and the Habomai group of islets. The territorial dispute has prevented Russia and Japan from signing a peace treaty after the World War II.
