Japan protests Russian deputy PM's visit to disputed isles+

TOKYO, May 16 Kyodo -
Japan on Monday protested a visit by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov and four other Cabinet ministers a day earlier to two of the four Russian-held disputed islands off Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.
Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto in the morning summoned Russian Ambassador to Japan Mikhail Bely and told him that he regrets the trip to the islands of Etorofu and Kunashiri by the Russian delegation as it ''runs counter to Japan's basic position and hurts the feeling of Japanese people.''
Matsumoto made a request to Bely that Moscow not arrange further visits to the contested islands by high-ranking Russian officials, while the envoy reiterated Russia's territorial claim to the isles, according to the ministry.
In response to Japan's protest, Ivanov told reporters Monday the visit was not aimed at angering anyone or proving anything, according to Russia's Itar-Tass news agency. Instead, it was for checking on the progress of infrastructure projects on the two islands, he was quoted as saying.
''It was my third or fourth visit there and somehow there hadn't been any complaints before,'' Ivanov was quoted as saying in the Russian Far East city of Vladivostok.
Sunday's trip was the first visit to the disputed islands by top Russian officials since the massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Since Russian President Dmitry Medvedev traveled to Kunashiri Island in November as the first leader of Russia or the Soviet Union to set foot on the disputed islands, several senior Russian officials have made trips to the areas, triggering repeated protests from Japan.
The territorial row over the islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri and Shikotan as well as the Habomai islet group, which were seized by the Soviet Union following Japan's surrender in World War II on Aug. 15, 1945, has prevented the two countries from signing a postwar peace treaty.
The islands are known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in Russia as the Southern Kurils.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference on Monday that such repeated visits by top Russian officials have ''seriously damaged the feelings of our people.''
''I believe Russia will not gain anything from them,'' Japan's top government spokesman said.