Russia will fully develop and invest in the Kuril Islands, a Russian deputy prime minister was quoted on Monday as saying, in comments sure to further strain relations with Japan which claims the four most southern islands in the chain.
Japan claims the four southern Kuril islands as its Northern Territories in a dispute that dates back to the end of World War Two and has prevented the signing of a peace treaty formally ending wartime hostilities between Moscow and Tokyo.
Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Trutnev made his comments during a working visit to Russia's far eastern Khabarovsk region, TASS news agency reported.
Japan has joined its Western allies in slapping economic sanctions on Russia after it sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in what Moscow calls a 'special military operation'.
