Japan PM Takaichi says Putin's visit to disputed Kuril islands 'absolutely unacceptable' - BBC News

It was the first time the Russian leader had visited the Kuril islands, according to state media.

Image source, AFP via Getty ImagesImage caption, Russia's President Vladimir Putin tastes caviar as he visits Iturup, known in Japan as Etorofu

Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has criticised Vladimir Putin's first-ever visit to the disputed Kuril islands on Thursday as "absolutely unacceptable".

Russian state media reported that Putin visited Iturup, known in Japan as Etorofu, one of four islands in the Kuril chain that are claimed by Russia and Japan.

Putin's trip "has worsened Japanese sentiment towards Russia," Takaichi told reporters, maintaining the island chain was "a unique territory of [Japan] historically and under international law".

The countries have been locked in a dispute over the Kurils for decades, and it is the main reason Moscow and Tokyo did not sign a peace treaty after World War Two.