Russia says Japan is whipping up ‘hysteria’ in Kuril Islands row

Moscow on Thursday said that Japan is whipping up ‘hysteria’ in dispute over the Kuril Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, ''To me, it seems that the Japanese leadership allocates all of its time that could be spent on building normal, fully-fledged economic, financial, and cultural ties with our country… to fixate on this issue.''

Japan lays claim to the Russian-held southern Kuril islands that Tokyo calls the Northern Territories, a territorial row that dates back to the end of World War Two when Soviet troops seized them from Japan. The dispute has prevented them signing a formal peace treaty.

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In response, ''Russia's disregard for the sovereignties of others is also not new, nor is it limited to the Northern Territories,'' said Washington’s new ambassador in Tokyo, Rahm Emanuel.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had said Moscow will be offerring tax breaks to stimulate business on a disputed Pacific island chain and make them available to foreign investors including from Japan.

Putin said Moscow needed to take into account its own security and that it wanted guarantees from Japan, a US ally, about possible deployments of US military and missile systems in the region near Russia.

"These questions have been put to the Japanese side. We still haven't received the answers so I think that in a sense the ball is in our partner's court."

Japan is offering Europe part of its liquified natural gas imports over fears supplies will be disrupted by tensions surrounding a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has deployed its Bastion coastal missile defence system to a remote part of the Kuril island chain in the Pacific near Japan.

Last year, Russia passed sweeping legislative reforms that, among an array of other things, made it unconstitutional to cede territory to a foreign power.

(With inputs from agencies)