Nipponica

The trip to Etorofu Island by Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev was the first visit to the four Russian-held, Japanese-claimed islands by a Russian minister since President Vladimir Putin's fifth term in office began in May.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry said it has lodged a protest with the Russian Embassy in Tokyo over the visit.

This is the border dispute that is the last existing conflict of the Second World War. Japan and Russia never signed a peace treaty and there any movement towards one has stalled after the beginning of the 2022 Ukraine War.