The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned on Monday the provocative actions of Japanese extremists in connection with a long-standing territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands.
Both Tokyo and Moscow have laid claims to the islands off Russia's far eastern coast since they were annexed by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II.
"Russia decisively protests the unacceptable statements made by the Japanese leadership towards Russia, believes Tokyo's territorial claims to be unacceptable and condemns the provocative actions of Japanese extremists," the ministry said in a statement.
Tensions between Japan and Russia reached new heights last November when Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited Kunashir, the second-largest of the four islands, called the Northern Territories by Japan.
On Monday during Japan's Northern Territories Day celebrations, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan called Medvedev's visit an "inexcusable rudeness."
February 7 marks the anniversary of the signing in 1855 of the Russian-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation, known as the Shimoda Treaty.
Japanese right-wing campaigners dragged the Russian flag along the ground outside the Russian Embassy in Tokyo and called for the return of the disputed islands.
The ministry said the "unprecedented and disgusting act" was a result of Japanese policies and urged the Japanese government to "take all measures to prevent such anti-Russian actions."
The pro-Kremlin youth nationalist movement Molodaya Gvardiya (Young Guard) held a protest rally near the Japanese embassy in Moscow to demand an apology.
The Russian embassy in Tokyo said it would send a protest note to the Japanese Foreign Ministry over the incident.
MOSCOW, February 7 (RIA Novosti)
