Russia Criticizes Japan's Northern Territories Rally

Tokyo, Feb. 15 (Jiji Press)--Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Tuesday criticized an annual event held in Japan on the country's Northern Territories Day on Feb. 7 as being prominently anti-Russia.

She admitted that Japan's stance displayed at the event was affected by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

On Feb. 7, the Japanese government and others hosted this year's National Rally to Demand the Return of the Northern Territories in Tokyo.

Four northwestern Pacific islands at the center of Japan's decades-old territorial dispute with Russia are known as the Northern Territories in Japan. They were seized by the former Soviet Union from Japan at the end of World War II.

An appeal adopted at the event called Russia's control of the islands an illegal occupation for the first time in five years.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]