Japan Postpones FM’s visit to Russian Federation after Medvedev’s trip to Kurils

Medvedev arrived on August 22 on Iturup, one of four islands that are located just off Russia’s far eastern coast and north of Japan.

Iturup, two other islands and a group of islets are known as the Kuril islands in Russian Federation and controlled by Moscow.

The Japanese government decided to postpone the visit of Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida to Russian Federation after Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev landed in the Kuril Islands, Kyodo news agency reported Saturday.

“Naturally we – I mean the government – will help the central bank in the sense of additional foreign currency inflows”, Medvedev said.

According to the statement, 8,500 people, are working at the site, though Russia admits local housing is roughly 30 percent complete – a figure Dmitry Medvedev, prime minister of the Russian Federation, described as “inadmissible”.

“The visit hurts the feelings of the Japanese people as it runs counter to Japan’s position on the Northern Territories”, Hayashi was quoted as telling Afanasiev.

This year, which marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, Russian Federation has emphasized its status as a “victor country” and has also taken a hard-line stance regarding the northern territories. “It is extremely regrettable”, Hayashi said, quoted by a foreign ministry official.

According to the Interfax news agency, Medvedev will visit a forum on the education of Russian youth and several economic projects on the archipelago, including Iturup Airport, which opened in September.

“At the Kurils on Russia’s State Flag day”, the picture was captioned.

Russian Federation is eager to develop its Far East region.

The cosmodrome is created to ease Russia’s dependence on space launches in Baikonur, in Kazakhstan.

It is likely that his visit to the island aims to demonstrate at home and overseas Russia’s effective control of the northern territories.