Japan: Russia’s deployment of weapons in the Kuril Islands is unacceptable
After the “2+2” meeting of the heads of diplomatic and defense departments of Russia and Japan, Japanese Foreign Minister Tarō Kōno said, that Tokyo considers the strengthening of Russia's military presence in the Southern Kuriles unacceptable, reports RIA Novosti.
"Speaking of missile launches and the deployment and other reinforcement of Russia's military presence on the Northern Islands (the Islands of the southern part of the Kuril Chain), we told Russia that this is unacceptable from the legal point of view," said Kōno at a press conference in Tokyo.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in turn said that the armed forces are working on Russian territory "based on international law."
In the summer of 2018 Russian Su-35S fighters were deployed on the Iturup island of the Kuril Chain. In 2016, Bastion and Bal coastal missile systems were deployed in Iturup and Kunashir islands.