Medvedev: I Do Not Care about Japan's Reaction to Kurils Visit

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said he is indifferent to Japan’s reaction over his trip to one of the Kuril Islands. On Tuesday, Medvedev arrived in Kunashir, just north of Japan's Hokkaido island, for his second trip to the disputed Kuril Islands, which the Soviet Union annexed after World War II. Japan claims Kunashir, Shikotan, the Habomai Islets and Iturup as its territory. Japan’s Foreign Ministry summoned Russia’s ambassador in Tokyo and filed a protest over Medvedev’s trip to one of the disputed islands. "(This) is a territory inherent to Japan, therefore the visit of this kind is unacceptable for Japan and deeply regrettable," Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Kenichiro Sasae told Russian Ambassador Yevgenny Afanasiyev. Medvedev told journalists: “As for the reaction of our Japanese partners, I do not care about it. I do not care about it so much that I will not be wasting my time answering this question.” “What do we have to discuss with them? The issue of the Russian prime minister’s presence on the Russian territory? This all could go too far,” he added.

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20120705/174409452.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/03/us-russia-japan-islands-idUSBRE8620AV20120703