PMs

Russia summons Japan’s ambassador to Moscow over Prime Minister Sanae ⁠Takaichi’s ‘anti-Russian’ remarks.

Russia has strongly protested to Japan’s ambassador ‌to Moscow the “anti-Russian” comments made by ⁠Prime Minister Sanae ⁠Takaichi after Russian President Vladimir Putin visited one of the disputed Kuril Islands for the first time last week.

Putin’s controversial visit to the territories last Thursday prompted Japan to summon Russia’s ambassador in protest.

Japan’s prime minister called Putin’s visit to the disputed islands “grave” and “absolutely unacceptable”. “The Northern Territories are inherently part of Japan’s territory, both historically and under international law,” she said.

“This visit has further hardened anti-Russian sentiment within Japan and has made the restoration of relations over the medium- to long- term more difficult,” Takaichi added.

Japan’s ambassador to Moscow left the meeting at Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday after 25 minutes without making any comment.

Disputed islands

Ties between Russia and Japan have long been dogged by the Kuril Islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories.

The islands were seized in 1945 by the Soviet Union, which went on to expel the Japanese population.

The dispute over the southern Kuril Islands – Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai Islands – prevented Russia and Japan from signing a post-World War II peace treaty.

Deteriorating relations

On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Takaichi’s comments on Putin’s visit had “crossed the line of decency” and criticised Tokyo’s “militaristic line”.

Relations between Moscow and Tokyo have worsened since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Japan has joined other G7 countries in sanctioning Russia and giving financial and non-lethal defence aid to Ukraine, which recognises Japan’s claim over the disputed islands.

Japan indirectly supports Ukraine’s air defence by exporting domestically produced Patriot interceptor missiles to the United States, helping replenish US stockpiles that have been reduced by military aid to Kyiv.

Analysts said Putin’s visit to the Kurils could be a warning to Japan not to deepen its support for Ukraine by supplying Patriot missiles directly to Kyiv or working closer with NATO.

In recent years, Japan has relaxed pacifist policies by lifting a ban on lethal weapons exports. But it remains unable to supply lethal military equipment directly to a country at war, including Ukraine.

The deals include rebuilding the long-defunct Iraq-Syria crude oil pipeline, which could bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

Iraq has struck dozens of agreements and partnerships with American companies, many in the oil sector, during a visit to the United States by Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi.

“A total of 48 agreements, memoranda of understanding, cooperation agreements and partnership declarations were signed between public and private sector entities in Iraq and the United States,” the Iraqi leader’s media office said on Saturday.

They include “cooperation and partnerships involving the ministries of oil and electricity … with ExxonMobil, KBR, GE Vernova, Shell and Halliburton”, as well as several deals related to the construction of a major crude oil pipeline between Iraq and Syria.

Iraq also signed a deal with Starlink, which dominates the global satellite communications sector, to introduce services to the country.

The preliminary deals, signed at a US-Iraq business summit at the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington on Friday, come as Baghdad seeks to move away from dependence on the Strait of Hormuz, where shipping and oil exports have been heavily disrupted due to the US-Israel war against Iran.

Iraq and Syria signed a cooperation agreement to reconstruct the long-defunct Iraq-Syria oil pipeline, which runs from the oil-rich Kirkuk region in northern Iraq to Syria’s Mediterranean port of Baniyas.

Iraq’s state news agency reported that major US energy company Chevron would carry out the project under the agreement.

The US Department of State said it welcomed Iraq and Syria’s plan to rehabilitate the pipeline, for which a “US-led international consortium” would “execute the technical and financial aspects”.

“Upon rehabilitation, this groundbreaking project will have an initial transport capacity of two million barrels per day of crude oil,” the department’s statement said. It described the pipeline as “a critical energy corridor linking Iraqi oil production to Mediterranean export markets and beyond”.

‘Make Hormuz an afterthought’

The US ambassador to Turkiye, Tom Barrack, said Iraq’s latest oil pipeline agreements would lead to a programme “that will make the Strait of Hormuz an afterthought”.

In addition to the Syria pipeline project, Chevron signed two other agreements with Iraq focused on boosting oil production, according to the company’s president of corporate business development, Jake Spiering.

In total, Iraq’s initial agreements with US firms, spanning the energy, healthcare and technology sectors are worth more than $60 billion, Reuters reported.

“We are using an open-door policy,” al-Zaidi ⁠⁠said at the business summit. “Everybody who has a project can come and talk to us. We will not make it difficult for anyone.”

Begona Gomez is accused of using her position as the prime minister’s wife ⁠to secure work contracts.

The wife of Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has been barred from travelling abroad as she prepares to face trial on corruption charges.

Investigating judge Juan Carlos Peinado issued the ruling on Saturday, ordering Sanchez’s wife, Begona Gomez, to hand in her passport and appear in front of court twice per month until a verdict is issued. She is charged with embezzlement, influence peddling, corruption in business dealings and misappropriation of funds.

Gomez has consistently denied any wrongdoing in the case, which stems from a complaint filed by an anticorruption group with far-right ties. It focuses on the creation and management of a chair at Madrid’s Complutense University that was co-directed by Gomez, as well as the alleged use of public resources and personal connections to advance private interests.

Sanchez has dismissed the allegations against his wife as an attempt by the right wing to undermine his government. Sanchez’s Socialist Party has said Gomez is innocent and subject to a years-long campaign of political persecution

No date has yet been set for the politically explosive trial.

The case is one of several corruption investigations involving Sanchez’s allies that are approaching trial or already before the courts, increasing pressure on the prime minister.

Several close allies, including the Socialist Party’s number three ⁠and Sanchez’s former transport minister, are under investigation in cases involving alleged ⁠kickbacks linked to public works, oil ⁠and gas contracts, and the procurement of masks during the pandemic. They deny wrongdoing.

Separately, Spain’s High Court said it was investigating former ‌Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero over allegations he led a network that profited from lobbying public authorities ‌on ‌behalf of third parties, including airline Plus Ultra. He denies the claims.

Sanchez, who has not been named in any of the cases, has rejected opposition calls to step down and call early elections.