Japan condemned Russia’s position on the Kuriles

Hirokazu Matsuno, Secretary General of the Government of Japan, condemned Russia’s position on agreements on sea fishing for Japanese fishermen off the South Kuril Islands. His speech is available on the website of the Japanese government.

Matsuno called Moscow’s refusal to agree on consultations on fishing in the Kuriles an unacceptable measure. “The measures taken by Russia are unacceptable. The Japanese government insists that Russia agree to holding intergovernmental consultations as soon as possible so that the thought of 2023 can be started, ”said the Secretary General of the Japanese Cabinet.

On January 19, Japan received a notification that Russia could not agree on the timing of consultations on issues related to the implementation of the Agreement between the countries on certain issues of cooperation in the field of harvesting marine living resources of February 21, 1998. Japan will continue to require annual consultations on the progress of the agreement in order to fish as early as possible in 2023.

For the first time in 22 years, Russia has refused to hold consultations with Japan on the conditions for Japanese fishermen to fish in the waters off the Kuril Islands, which will negatively affect the catch in the coming months. According to the Kyodo agency, the deteriorating relations between the countries against the backdrop of anti-Russian sanctions became the reason for the incident.

For the first time since 2003, Japan officially designated the Russian South Kuriles as “illegally occupied northern territories.” Such a term was mentioned in the “Blue Book on Diplomacy” presented to the government by the country’s Foreign Ministry. Also, the definition that the islands are “Japanese territory” returned to the document. For the past few years, Tokyo has been talking about the Kuriles as islands “to which Japan’s sovereignty extends.”

In 2022, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree recognizing the South Kuril Islands as “territory occupied by Russia”. Kyiv also called on the international community to support the Japanese side in “settlement of the status of the northern territories of Japan.”