Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday made his first visit to the disputed Kuril Islands, visiting a fish-processing complex, a local hospital and a school on Iturup as Japan protested the trip.
According to the Kremlin, Putin travelled to the island with Sakhalin Governor Valery Limarenko and held a meeting with him at the end of the visit.
The visit came a day after Putin travelled to the Russian island of Sakhalin, where Russia's Pacific Fleet was conducting military drills.
Russian state news agency TASS described the trip as Putin's first personal visit to the Kuril Islands, a chain of volcanic islands administered by Russia and stretching north of Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido.
Japan FM protests visit
Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi strongly protested the visit, saying the islands are an "inherent part of Japan's territory both historically and under international law."
Russia and Japan remain locked in a territorial dispute over the four southernmost Kuril islands — Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai islets — which Japan calls the "Northern Territories."
The dispute has prevented the two countries from signing a post-World War II peace treaty and has deepened in recent years as Japan imposed sanctions on Moscow over the Russia-Ukraine war.
Putin accuses Japan of changing position
A day before visiting Iturup, Putin said Japan continued to maintain territorial claims over the southern Kuril Islands, accusing Tokyo of changing its position on the dispute.
"Now we see, unfortunately, changes in positions which, I emphasise, were not provoked in any way on our part," Putin said while addressing servicemen of Russia's Pacific Fleet aboard the cruiser Varyag, the fleet's flagship.
Putin said Moscow had maintained constructive relations with Tokyo on the territorial issue during former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration.
The Russian president travelled to the Kurils after his visit to Sakhalin, where he also held a meeting on the security of Russia's eastern borders, according to Russian state media.
The islands are rich in mineral
The Kuril archipelago extends from Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula towards Hokkaido. The four disputed islands were seized by the Soviet Union in the final days of World War II and have remained under Russian control.
The islands are strategically important because of their location and rich fishing grounds and mineral resources.
