Mr. Kenichiro Sasae, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, summons Mr. Evgeny Vladimirovich Afanasiev, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Japan, on the visit of Russian Prime Minister Medvedev to the Northern Territories

July 3, 2012
Japanese

In the wake of a visit by Mr. Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, to Kunashiri Island, Mr. Kenichiro Sasae, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, summoned Mr. Evgeny Vladimirovich Afanasiev, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Japan, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at 18:00 on June 3, and stated the following.

The Prime Minister of Russia visited Kunashiri Island. Kunashiri Island is the inherent territory of Japan. The Japanese Government cannot accept this visit and finds it extremely regrettable.
We express concern that this visit throws cold water on the positive atmosphere which has been constructed between Japan and Russia.

In response, Ambassador Afanasiev expressed Russia’s basic position, remarking that Russia puts importance on the positive atmosphere between Japan and Russia. He stated that he would report what Mr. Sasae conveyed to his Government.

(*The foregoing is a provisional translation. The date indicated above denotes the date of issue of the original press release in Japanese.)

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