MOSCOW, August 13. /TASS/. Japanese authorities have gone so far as to brazenly tell Russia's leader which regions he can visit, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"The remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi on Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Iturup are outrageous and absolutely unacceptable. Japanese officials have gone so far as to brazenly tell Moscow which regions of its own country its leader can visit," Zakharova said in a statement.

"We categorically reject these remarks as politically unfounded, offensive and legally invalid," Zakharova said. "Japan’s latest statements are yet another indication of Tokyo’s short-sighted policy and its increasingly confrontational approach toward Russia."

"Japan is seriously undermining Russian-Japanese relations by joining Western sanctions against Moscow and providing support including military and technical assistance to the Kiev regime which seeks to destroy everything Russian. Russia and responsible Japanese political leaders had painstakingly built those ties over decades," she said.