Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Iturup Island in the Kuril Islands today, August 13, which caused an immediate reaction in Japan, which expressed "strong protest."
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi expressed a "strong protest" to Moscow, stressing that all the "northern territories", as Tokyo calls the southern part of the Kuril Islands, including Iturup, are "ancestral [Japanese] territory from a historical and legal point of view," TASS reports.
The topic of Putin's trip to the Kuril Islands instantly became the most discussed in Japanese social networks, including the Japanese segment of the social network X. The topic also became the main news of all Japanese media.
Groups of far-right activists are holding spontaneous protests in the area where the Russian Embassy is located in Tokyo. They arrived in their traditional trucks and vans painted with nationalist slogans and equipped with loudspeakers, but they cannot drive up to the Russian diplomatic mission because of police closures. The protesters shout anti-Russian slogans and critical remarks through loudspeakers because of Putin's trip to Iturup.
There was no information about any clashes between the ultra-right and law enforcement agencies.
Vladimir Putin visited the Kuril Islands for the first time. Prior to that, the leaders of the Russian state and the government of the Russian Federation visited the Kuril Islands five times. Dmitry Medvedev made four trips: in 2010 — as President of the Russian Federation, in 2012, 2015 and 2019 — as chairman of the Government of Russia. In 2021, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin visited Iturup Island. In 2010, when Medvedev visited the Kuril Islands, Japan recalled its ambassador from Moscow for consultations.