Moscow expects Tokyo to avoid artificially-created obstacles in the development of Russian-Japanese cooperation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"We are not taking any steps that could complicate this cooperation and hope that our Japanese colleagues will opt out of creating artificial barriers to our mutually beneficial interaction, too," Lavrov said. "We are ready for full cooperation with Japan."
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan ordered the country's ambassador in Moscow to collect information on "the situation in Russia" over President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to the Kuril Islands, Japanese NHK TV channel said.
Medvedev became the first Russian president to visit one of the four disputed Kuril Islands, called the Northern Territories by Japan, on Monday. Both Russia and Japan have laid claim to the islands since they were occupied by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II.
Medvedev and Kan were due to meet at the Asia Pacific (APEC) summit in on November 13-14 in the Japanese city of Yokohama, but Kan said on Tuesday that he was not sure the meeting would go ahead. The Japanese ambassador to Russia said the talks are likely to take place.
The row over the islands has prevented Russia and Japan from signing a peace treaty to formally end World War II hostilities.
MOSCOW, November 3 (RIA Novosti)
