Japan protests at Russian military drills in Kuril Islands

On March 25, the Japanese government sent a note of protest to the Russian government over the military drills in the Kuril Islands, reported from TASS that Chief Cabinet Secretary of the Japanese Cabinet Hirokazu Matsuno told a news conference on March 28 in Tokyo.

"On March 25, we stated through diplomatic channels that the maneuvers and other forms of Russian military reinforcement on the four northern islands do not correspond to the position of our country and are unacceptable, in connection with which a protest note was expressed," Matsuno said.

The previous time, Tokyo sent a note of protest to Moscow on March 11 because of the combat coordination stage that started in the Kuril Islands.

On March 21, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Moscow was terminating negotiations with Tokyo on a peace treaty due to the introduction by Japan of unilateral restrictions on Russia over the situation in Ukraine. It was also decided to terminate visa-free travel for Japanese citizens on the basis of agreements on visa-free exchanges between the southern Kuril Islands of Russia and Japan from 1991 and on the most facilitated visits dated from 1999 for former Japanese residents of the islands to their former places of residence.

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