Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said on November 6 that Japan has protested to the Russian government and demanded it quickly withdraw its move to place four Japan Tobacco factories in Russia under the temporary management of Russian companies.
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree placing the plants, owned by a JT subsidiary in Russia, under that arrangement. Kihara, speaking at a press conference, said Japan had lodged its protest and sought the measure's prompt reversal.
Kihara said a senior official of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and a deputy director-general of the Foreign Ministry's European Affairs Bureau, together with Japan's ambassador to Russia, delivered the protest to the Russian government during a visit to the country. The director-general of the European Affairs Bureau also made the same request to Russia's ambassador to Japan, he said.
He would not disclose how the Russian side responded, calling it a matter of diplomatic exchanges. "We will continue to closely watch the situation and the government will respond appropriately," Kihara said.
The takeover puts a Japanese manufacturer's overseas assets directly in the path of a dispute between the two governments, leaving the plants' operations in Russian hands for now.