Defence minister announces work on civilian and military site on disputed land in remarks seen as expression of annoyance at Shinzo Abe’s visit to Kiev

Japan’s attempts to resolve a decades-old territorial dispute with Russia took a step backwards this week after Moscow said it would speed up the construction of military facilities on a group of islands claimed by both Moscow and Tokyo.

Days after Shinzo Abe became the first Japanese prime minister to visit Ukraine – where he voiced support for the country’s president Petro Poroshenko – Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said building work on civilian and military infrastructure on the disputed Southern Kuril islands would be accelerated.

Soviet forces seized the islands – known in Japan as the Northern Territories – 70 years ago towards the end of the second world war. Russia’s refusal to return them has prevented the two countries from concluding a permanent peace treaty and soured ties between successive Russian and Japanese administrations.

Analysts said Shoigu’s remarks, made during a visit on Monday to the Russian far east city of Vladivostok, were intended to communicate Moscow’s annoyance at Abe’s visit to Kiev ahead of last weekend’s G7 summit in Germany.

Japan is already embroiled in a long-running row with China over ownership of the Senkaku islands in the East China Sea, and has backed the Philippines and other South East Asian nations alarmed by the Chinese military build-up near disputed territory in the South China Sea.

During talks with Poroshenko, Abe said he supported the rule of law in Ukraine, amid reports of renewed fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels. Abe’s attempts to build closer ties with Russia since he took office in 2012 registered some success until Tokyo threw its weight behind G7 sanctions following Russia’s annexation of Crimea last year, and increased aid to Ukraine.

“We have attached importance to G7 solidarity,” Abe said in Kiev. “Japan has maintained sanctions against Russia and urged Russia through dialogue and pressure to play a constructive role.” In addition, Japan has pledged US$1.84bn (£1.2bn) in economic assistance to Ukraine.

Poroshenko said Abe’s visit to Kiev was of great “historic and symbolic value”, adding: “We highly value Japan’s resolute decision not to recognise Russia’s annexation of Crimea.”

Abe, though, is still hoping that Russian president Vladimir Putin will visit Japan this year for a summit, with the future of the Northern Territories expected to be high on the agenda. Under Abe, a nationalist whose father, Shintaro Abe, promoted closer ties with Moscow as foreign minister in the 1980s, Japan has refused to budge from its demand that all four islands be returned. Japan has rejected a compromise that would grant Japan sovereignty over the two smallest territories of the Habomai chain and Shikotan, but only after the countries sign a peace treaty. Numerous rounds of talks have failed to bring the two sides closer together.

James Brown, an assistant professor at Temple University in Tokyo and an expert on Japan-Russia relations, said: “Shoigu’s statement definitely sent a message to Japan. Japanese officials tried to emphasise the economic side of Abe’s visit to Ukraine, but the Russians were annoyed.”

A senior Russian official said the Northern Territories could become an obstacle to better economic and diplomatic ties with Japan. “The issue of territorial claims will only be an irritant in relations and an obstacle to the development of cooperation in other areas, including economy, politics and humanitarian affairs,” Sergei Naryshkin, speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament, told Rossiya-24 TV last month after an official visit to Japan.

Japanese officials tried to emphasise the economic side of Abe’s visit to Ukraine, but the Russians were annoyed James Brown, Temple University, Tokyo

By supporting G7 sanctions against Russia, Japan is hoping to win international understanding for future territorial negotiations with Russia. While France and Germany reportedly approve of Abe’s desire to discuss the islands with Putin, the US has warned Japan not to seek closer ties with Moscow as long as the Ukraine crisis continues.

While Abe has said Putin should visit Tokyo “at an appropriate time”, he conceded that Russia’s banishment from meetings of major industrialised nations was likely to continue into next year, when the G7 will be held in Japan.

Brown played down the prospects of a Putin–Abe summit, and for resolution of the Northern Territories dispute. “Abe has said he hopes to make a breakthrough, but at the same time Japan doesn’t want to risk having Putin here while something flares up in Ukraine,” he said.

“Even if Putin does come, there’s not much chance of a deal being made. The Japanese are kidding themselves if they think Russia will return more than the two smallest islands”, which make up only 7% of the disputed territory.

The foreign ministry in Tokyo told the Guardian in a statement that it would monitor any build-up of military facilities on the islands, adding that Japan was committed to resolving postwar disputes through negotiation.

Located in the northwest Pacific, the Northern Territories – known in Japanese as the Shikotan, Kunashiri, Etorofu and the Habomai islets – are surrounded by rich fishing grounds, mineral deposits and possibly offshore oil and gas reserves. Many of the 17,000 Japanese living there at the end of the war were forced to leave. The islands are now inhabited by about 14,000 Russians.