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Russia has summoned Japan’s ambassador after Tokyo condemned President Vladimir Putin’s recent visit to the disputed Kuril Islands, further straining relations between the two countries.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that Japanese Ambassador Akira Muto had been summoned over Tokyo’s criticism of Putin’s trip to the Russian Far East.
Putin, 73, visited the Kuril Islands after travelling to the nearby Russian island of Sakhalin. The islands are claimed by both Russia and Japan and have remained a longstanding source of tension between the two countries.
Japan had earlier summoned Russia’s ambassador to protest Putin’s visit.
Lavrov accused Japanese officials of having “crossed the line of decency” in their criticism of the Russian president’s trip.
“We have summoned the (Japanese) ambassador,” Lavrov told reporters, adding that Japanese officials had initially indicated that Muto could not attend immediately.
“We were told either that he was not in Moscow or that he was unwell. We did not quite understand the situation,” he said.
However, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova later told the state-run TASS news agency that the Japanese ambassador had “suddenly started feeling better” and would attend the meeting on Tuesday.
Lavrov said the summons was intended to address “the conduct of the Japanese leadership” and discuss how ambassadors should conduct themselves in their host countries.
The Kuril Islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories, were seized by the Soviet Union in 1945 at the end of World War II. The territorial dispute has prevented Russia and Japan from signing a formal post-war peace treaty.
Relations between Moscow and Tokyo have deteriorated further since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Japan has joined other G7 countries in imposing sanctions on Russia and has provided financial assistance and non-lethal defence equipment to Ukraine.
