Japan Protests Russian Work Involving 3 Disputed Isles

June 11, 2018

Tokyo- Japan has protested Russia's work to connect Sakhalin and three of the four Russian-held islands claimed by Japan with fiber optics, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Monday.

Following Russia's notification of the start of the work to establish a fiber-optic connection between the Russian province and the northwestern Pacific islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri and Shikotan, the Japanese government lodged a protest on Thursday, Suga told a press conference.

The four disputed islands including the Habomais off the northernmost Japan prefecture of Hokkaido, collectively called the Northern Territories in Japan, were seized by Soviet troops in the closing days of World War II.

Pointing out that the project affecting the islands "under (Russian) occupation with no legal basis" runs counter to Japan position on the territorial issue, Suga said, "It is extremely regrettable."

The government also lodged a protest with China over a Chinese company's involvement in the work, he noted. Jiji Press