AS tensions between Japan and Russia rise over the conflict in Ukraine, former Japanese residents may need to have visas to travel to the Russian-controlled, Japan-claimed islands off Hokkaido.
A senior Russian foreign ministry official said visas may be required in future travel to the islets when they visit their families' graves there. Currently no visas are required for such visits.
"No special treatment or simplified procedures will be applied" in such a case, Nikolay Nozdrev, director in charge of Japan and other Asian countries at the ministry, said in a recent written interview with Kyodo News.
However, the Japanese government is unlikely to accept such a change as this will mean accepting Russia's sovereignty over the disputed islets.
The visa-free visits have long been allowed through a special arrangement between the two countries although they were canceled during the past two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Russia had already said in March that it will suspend negotiations, including on the territorial dispute, on a postwar peace treaty with Japan.
This came after Tokyo joined the United States and Europe in taking a strong stance and imposing sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine conflict.
Following that, Moscow also said it was halting a visa-free programme that allows former Japanese residents to periodically visit the islands but will still maintain a scheme for them to visit their ancestral tombs without visas.
But this may not last as Nozdrev said such favourable treatment will no longer be effective after the spread of the virus subsides and travel between the two countries becomes normalised.
The Kyodo report said that former Japanese residents would still be allowed to visit their families' graves on the islands from a humanitarian viewpoint.
On the peace treaty talks, Nozdrev emphasised that Russia had not only pursued for a conclusion of a treaty itself but also tried to build a peaceful and friendly relationship with Japan.
But he added that Russia cannot engage in negotiations with a country that overtly poses a threat to it.
The islands are called the Northern Territories by Japan while Russia calls them the Southern Kurils.