Medvedev may visit disputed island off Hokkaido Mon.: Russia officials+

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Oct. 29 Kyodo -
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev plans to visit one of the disputed
Russian-held islands off Hokkaido on Monday on the way back from his trip to
Vietnam and authorities in Sakhalin in the Russian Far East are preparing for
his visit, several local officials said Friday.
The officials told Kyodo News that Medvedev, who is set to visit Vietnam on
Saturday and Sunday for meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations,
will travel to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the capital of Sakhalin province, on Monday
morning and later head to Kunashiri Island, one of the islands claimed by
Japan.
Medvedev would be the first Russian leader, including those of the former
Soviet Union, to set foot on any of the islands called the Northern Territories
in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia.
Experts said his visit could spoil relations between Tokyo and Moscow ahead of
his trip to Japan in mid-November to attend meetings of the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation forum to be held in Yokohama, south of Tokyo.
Russian security authorities are set to arrive in Kunashiri as early as Friday
and officials from the presidential palace in Moscow will travel to Sakhalin on
Saturday, according to the officials.
Medvedev could cancel the planned trip depending on the weather and other
circumstances, but if he does visit the island, he is scheduled to exchange
views with border security forces and local fishermen, and to inspect a local
school, they said.
In late September, Medvedev said that he would definitely visit the islands in
the near future, prompting Tokyo to warn that it would have a significant
detrimental impact on Japan-Russia relations.
The islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri and Shikotan as well as the Habomai islet
group were seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II. The bilateral
dispute over the islands has prevented Japan and Russia from signing a postwar
peace treaty as Japan has called for their return.
==Kyodo