Russia’s detention of Japanese on disputed islands irks Japan

Japan has lodged a diplomatic protest with Russia over the detention of a Japanese interpreter visiting one of the disputed islands claimed by both countries, demanding his swift return.

Japanese media said the man was stopped by Russian border guard Sunday while on a visa-free trip to Kunashiri, one of the four islands off Russia's far eastern coast and just north of Japan.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Monday Tokyo “strongly protested through diplomatic channels,” urging the immediate release of its citizen.

Ties between Moscow and Tokyo have been strained for decades over the islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in Russia as part of the Kuril Islands.

All of the Kuril islands, located in the Sea of Okhotsk, have been administered by Russia since the end of World War II, when its forces seized the islands following Japan’s surrender in the war.

Japan, however, claims sovereignty over four of them -- Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai.

“We also told (Russia) we cannot accept any acts based on the assumption that Russia has the right to administer the Northern Territories,” Suga said.

It is the first time that a Japanese national has been held on one of the islands at the heart of the territorial row after visiting them under the special bilateral visa program that began in 1992.

SS