Russia Rejects Japan's Protests Over Opening Of Fish Processing Plant On Shikotan - Moscow

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th September, 2019) Russia rejects Japan's protests over the opening of a Russian fish processing plant on Shikotan Island, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"The Japanese demarche in connection with the opening of a fish processing plant on the island of Shikotan. We are forced to once again remind Tokyo that we regard as categorically unacceptable the protests of the Japanese side regarding Russia's conduct of economic and any other activities, including in cooperation with other states, on Russian territory, an integral part of which are the South Kuril Islands," Zakharova said at a briefing.

On the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in the Russian city of Vladivostok, Russian President Vladimir Putin participated in the opening ceremony of the biggest fish processing plant in the country, which is located on the island of Shikotan.

Tokyo said it would make a representation to the Russian side, which was handed over to the Russian embassy in Japan on September 5.

Russian-Japanese relations have long been complicated by the fact that the two nations have not signed a permanent peace treaty after World War II, as there are still contradictions over a group of four Kuril islands that Russia has sovereignty over, but that are also claimed by Japan.

Since December 2016, Moscow and Tokyo have been engaged in talks on the treaty. The states have been committed to carrying out the talks based on the 1956 bilateral declaration, which stipulates, among other things, that Japan would regain control over Habomai islets and Shikotan. The status of the islands of Kunashir and Iturup is not covered by the 1956 declaration.