Associate Professor Hinata Yamaguchi: Putin “sent Japan to hell” with his promise to visit the Kuril Islands
With his promise to visit the Kuril Islands, Russian President Vladimir Putin is “effectively telling Japan to go to hell.” About this newspaper South China Morning Post (SCMP) said Ryo Hinata Yamaguchi, assistant professor of international relations at the University of Tokyo.
He recalled that several months ago, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov emphasized that the dispute with Japan is over and that the issue of sovereignty over the Kuril Islands is not being discussed; in his opinion, Putin is “simply consolidating this position.”
“By doing this, he is basically telling Japan to go to hell. I don’t think Putin’s visit to the islands will make relations worse than they are now, but we will need to watch what he does if and when he does go to the Kuril Islands,” Yamaguchi said. The associate professor also expressed concern that “the situation will become more serious” if Putin orders concrete steps to be taken to develop the islands.
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