Russia builds new barracks on disputed islands near Japan
MOSCOW: Russia said on Monday it had built new barracks for troops on a disputed chain of islands near Japan and would build more facilities for armoured vehicles, prompting a diplomatic protest from Tokyo.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said it planned to shift troops next week into four housing complexes on two of the four disputed islands, known as the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan.
Japan’s defence ministry says 3,500 Russian troops are deployed on the two larger islands as part of an on-going military buildup.
The news came after the Kremlin said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe might visit Russia on Jan 21 as the two countries step up efforts to defuse the territorial dispute that has prevented them from signing a World War Two peace treaty.
In Tokyo, Foreign Minister Taro Kono told a regular news conference that Japan would lodge a protest. Japan said in July it had asked Russia to reduce its military activity on the islands, a plea Moscow dismissed as unhelpful megaphone diplomacy at the time.
“We plan to lodge a protest,” Kono told reporters, adding that Japan would clearly state its position during negotiations.
“The premise of the upcoming negotiations is solving the island issue and concluding a peace treaty,” he added.
Soviet forces seized the four islands at the end of World War Two and Moscow and Tokyo both claim sovereignty over them.
Diplomats on both sides have spoken of the possibility of reviving a Soviet-era draft agreement that envisaged returning two of the four islands as part of a peace deal.
President Vladimir Putin and Abe have held numerous faceto-face meetings to try to make progress on the issue.
Tokyo says it is concerned by what it regards as an unhelpful Russian military build-up on the islands - which has included warplanes, missile defences and other deployments.