Japan slams Russia for its stance on fishery near Kuril Islands, calls it 'unacceptable'

Japan on Monday slammed Russia for its failure to approve consultations on fishery near the Kuril Islands. Labelling the move as "unacceptable", Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a press conference: "We consider the position of the Russian side unacceptable and we are exploring the possibilities to resume the activities under a respective agreement."

Tokyo had reached an agreement with Moscow on March 24 for fishing salmon and trout by Japanese fishermen across the 200-mile exclusive economic zone. Both Russia and Japan have had undisputed access to commercial fishing in the 200-mile EEZ of each other as per an agreement that they signed in 1984. However, as Russia ordered a special military operation in neighbouring Ukraine, it halted the consultations due to Japan's posture and ts allegiance with America in imposing sanctions on Moscow. 

Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said at a conference that Moscow had informed Tokyo  on January 29 that "it could not approve the consultations on the fishery in Russia’s territorial waters due to anti-Russia restrictions."

Russia is totally against any "protests by the Japanese side due to this decision," she continued.

A matter of survival for Japanese fishermen

At a press conference in January, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno clarified that Japan's government finds Russia's stance on negotiating Japanese fishing activities in the Russian economic zone near the Kurils as totally unacceptable and unilateral. "It is unacceptable that the Russian side has made such a move. We insist that Russia should respond to intergovernmental consultations as soon as possible so that we could start fishing shortly," he has stressed. Later, at a meeting of the budget commission of Japan's lower house of parliament, Takako Suzuki, minister of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, stated that "a safe fishing agreement is a matter of survival for Japanese fishermen". Japanese lawmakers demanded that Russia must honour the agreement for co-operation in marine resource fishing operations that was signed by both sides in 1998. 

Earlier, as the global tensions escalated due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Japan's Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi had referred to the disputed Kuril Islands as "an integral part of the country and not Russia's". During a debate in the National Diet (Parliament), the Japanese minister had termed the islets as "original territories of Japan". He insisted that Japan's stance on the long-standing disputed territory remains unchanged, adding that the islands are 'primordially Japanese'. The geopolitical tussle between Russia and Japan regarding the Kuril Islands dates back to World War II. As the war concluded, the then Soviet Union occupied the Kurils, which Tokyo said was the Japanese territory that it refers to as Northern Territories.