Japan`s indignation over Medvedev`s Kuril trip absurd - Margelov.

MOSCOW, November 1 (Itar-Tass) - The Federation Council, upper house
of parliament, considers Japan's discontent with Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev's trip to Kuril Islands "the rhetoric from the past".
"Japanese officials' indignation over the trip to Kuril Islands by
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is absurd in terms of international law
and elementary in bilateral relations," Federation Council Foreign
Relations Committee chairman Mikhail Margelov told Itar-Tass on Monday.
The legislator cited several examples. "Before and after World War II
the United States did not recognise Baltic republics' incorporation into
the USSR. But neither the State Department nor the White House gave any
warnings about the trips to Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn by Soviet leaders,"
the Russian senator said.
"Russia does not recognise the independence of Kosovo, but when
Western politicians visit this territory, we do not threaten with fist and
even with finger," Margelov said, adding, "The list may be continued."
"All our partners, including Japan, must understand that it is
senseless to talk with Russia by force: it is senseless to kneel down with
us and change our stance by force," the legislator said. He expressed hope
for "Japan's wise policy".
Many legislators share Margelov's position. "By what right Japan
dictates us where our president should move?" Federation Council Defence
and Security Committee chairman Viktor Ozerov told Itar-Tass. "Such
behaviour is at least surprising because under the post-war international
documents, Kuril Islands are part of Russia and not northern territories
of Japan," he said.
That is why "Japan's protest against Dmitry Medvedev's trip to Kuril
Islands is the pure rhetoric from the past and has no legal grounds",
Ozerov said. "Such stance can hardly help normalise our relations and give
an opportunity to discuss the territorial dispute in future," he added.
First Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Constitutional Legislation
Valery Fyodorov said, "The Russian president is not bound to advice with
neighbours if he go to any region of our sovereign state or not."
He said Dmitry Medvedev "is a mobile person. It is remarkable that he
visits any region every week and studies the situation there. In this case
his trip to Kuril Islands is very useful because this region is visited
not so often".
Medvedev was the first Russian leader who visited South Kurils.
Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara summoned Russian ambassador
Mikhail Bely over President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to the disputed Kuril
Islands Monday, Jiji Press reported.
"I told him that it is Russia's domestic issue. I requested Japan to
deal with it cool-headedly and in a balanced manner," Bely told reporters
after meeting with Maehara, according to Jiji.
The Kuril Islands, which lie north of Japan's Hokkaido island, have
been controlled by Moscow since they were seized by Soviet troops at the
end of World War II, but Tokyo claims the southernmost four as Japanese
territory.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Medvedev's visit to a disputed
islet in the Kurils on Monday was "very regrettable".
"As Japan has kept its position that the four northern islands belong
to Japanese territory, the president's visit there is very regrettable,"
Kan told the parliament.
Maehara said the visit "hurts Japanese public sentiment and is
extremely regrettable", adding that he will investigate the facts about
the visit.
State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Konstantin Kosachev said
official Tokyo's reaction to President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to the
South Kuril islands "pushes much farther" the search for compromises on
the territorial issue.
He recalled that "there is no dispute between Russia and Japan over
who owns the South Kuril islands."
"The islands have a clearly defined international legal status" they
belong to Russia as the legal successor to the Soviet Union after World
War II," he said on Monday, November 1.
"And there is Russia's good will to discuss their status," the
lawmaker added.
However Tokyo's attacks only push away construction discussion on the
matter and "have the opposite impact on the situation."
Kosachev believes that the Japanese Foreign Ministry's demarche was
prompted by "internal, not foreign, policy considerations."
"Japanese authorities act taking into account the public opinion in
the country," he said.
At the same time, Kosachev stressed that this "does not excuse" such
steps o the part of the Japanese leadership.
"Tokyo's reaction is destructive, cul-de-sac and unfriendly with
regard to Russia" he said.
The dispute over the Kuril Islands is a dispute between Russia and
Japan over sovereignty over the southernmost Kuril Islands. The disputed
islands, which were occupied by Soviet forces during the Manchurian
Strategic Offensive Operation at the end of World War II, are currently
under Russian administration.
-0-yur