Japanese right-wing campaigners have desecrated the Russian flag calling for return of an island chain that is at the center of a territorial dispute between the two countries.
They dragged the Russian flag along the ground outside the heavily guarded Russian Embassy in Tokyo on Monday, which marks the anniversary of "The Day of Northern Territories" in Japan.
The activists surged the streets playing nationalist music and chanting slogans such as "Return the Northern Territories" and "You are illegally occupying our land," Russian state news agency Ria Novosti reported.
The incident comes in the wake of the controversial visit of Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov to Kuril Islands last week.
Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara condemned his Russian counterpart's visit to the Iturup, Kunashir and Shikotan islands of the Kuril archipelago during a one-day "military inspection trip" on Friday.
Japanese Foreign Ministry summoned Russian Ambassador Mikhail Bely seeking clarification over the visit.
Even though Kuril's 56 islands are officially under Moscow's control, Tokyo has staked its claim over the four southernmost islands.
Maehara is scheduled to visit Moscow later this month to discuss the Kuril issue with Russian leaders.
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev's tour of the disputed islands in November had stirred a similar controversy, leading to the recall of Japanese Ambassador to Russia.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan described the visit as "inexcusable rudeness."
Located between Japan's northern Hokkaido island and Russia's far-eastern Kamchatka peninsula, the controversial islands are called Southern Kurils by the Russians while the Japanese refer to them as the Northern Territories. The Kuril Islands were annexed by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II.
The two countries have not yet signed a peace treaty decades after the war.
The territorial dispute over the sparsely populated islands has remained a constant irritant in ties between Tokyo and Moscow.
Around 17,000 Japanese inhabitants lived in the region before it came under Russian control.
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