MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Medvedev plans to take part in a national youth forum on the Kuril island of Iturup and will visit a number of construction sites that are part of Russia’s Kuril development program mapped out until 2025.
The Iturup National Youth Education Forum, held for the first time on the island, kicked off on August 12 and wraps up Monday, August 24.
On Friday, Japan expressed concern over Medvedev’s plans to visit the Far East island chain, which Tokyo claims as its own.
Last week, Japan lodged a formal complaint with the Russian Embassy in Japan over the proposed visit by the senior Russian official. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Russian officials would continue working visits to the Kuril Islands despite protests from Japan.
All of the Kuril islands have been administered by Russia since the end of WWII, but the Japanese government still lays claim to four of them — Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai.
Earlier this month, the Russian government adopted a Kuril development program with an overall budget of over 60 billion rubles ($940 million) allocated for the islands. The program includes 9.3 billion rubles of foreign investment.
The federal development program stipulates the construction of 123,000 square meters (1.3 million square feet) of housing and social infrastructure, the modernization of transport systems and the expansion of telecommunications.
