Japan protests Russia ship restrictions near disputed islands off Hokkaido

This photo taken in November 2019 from a Mainichi airplane ‘Kibou’ shows Russian-held, Japanese-claimed islands off Hokkaido, known as the Northern Territories in Japan.(Mainichi)

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Japan said Wednesday it has lodged protests with Russia over its warnings of a live-fire drill and temporary restrictions on foreign vessels in waters off Russian-held, Japanese-claimed islands off Hokkaido.

The islands, called the Northern Territories by Japan and the Southern Kurils by Russia, have long been a source of friction between the two countries, preventing them from signing a peace treaty after World War II.

Japan’s top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a press conference that the government had received two warnings from Russian authorities regarding the moves taking place in areas including in Japanese “territorial waters.”

Hayashi said they “run counter to Japan’s position on the Northern Territories and are unacceptable,” and that Tokyo lodged its protest with Moscow via diplomatic channels on both occasions.

The first warning on Oct. 5 said a live-fire drill will be held in a period until Nov. 1 in waters off one of the islands, he said. The second received Monday was for the temporary suspension of the innocent passage of foreign military and government vessels in waters around the Northern Territories until next Monday.

The right to innocent passage under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea ensures that a foreign ship can sail through the territorial waters of another state unless it poses a security threat.

Tokyo maintains that the four islands — Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan and the Habomai islet group — were illegally seized by the Soviet Union soon after Japan’s surrender in World War II on Aug. 15, 1945, while Russia views the act was legitimate.