Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday Russia's deployment of missile systems on
islands in the western Pacific isles that are also claimed by Tokyo was
"regrettable".
His comments
came less than a month before Russian President Vladimir Putin is to visit
Japan for talks aimed at progress on the decades-old territorial row. Moscow
has already said it hoped the deployment would not damage efforts to settle the
dispute.
Russian media
reported on Tuesday that Bastion and Bal anti-ship missile systems were now in
operation on the islands, part of an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean over
which Russia and Japan have staked rival claims for 70 years.
The feud over
the islands, called the southern Kuriles in Russia and the Northern Territories
in Japan, has kept Tokyo and Moscow from signing a peace treaty to formally end
World War Two.
"The four
islands are our country's inherent territory. We have conveyed through
diplomatic routes that this ... is not compatible with our country's position
and is regrettable," Abe told parliament's upper house.
Delicate
diplomacy is underway to prepare for the meeting between the Russian and
Japanese leaders in Japan on Dec. 15-16. Both sides have said they hoped
progress could be made towards settling the dispute.
Abe, who sees
improved ties with Moscow as a counter-balance to a rising China, hopes the
lure of economic cooperation will help ease a breakthrough when he meets Putin,
given the hit to Russia's economy from sluggish oil prices and Western
sanctions imposed after its annexation of Crimea.
Reuters
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