For the second time in less than a year, independent Upper House lawmaker Muneo Suzuki has defied the central government by flying to Moscow for talks with senior Russian officials.

Suzuki, who departed Sunday, met the deputy head of the Russian fisheries agency, Andrei Yakovlev, on Monday. He sought permission from Russia for Japanese fishing fleets to harvest konbu (kelp) in the waters around the Habomai islets off Hokkaido. Earlier this month, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that it was suspending permission for harvesting konbu, saying that repairs to a lighthouse were needed.

Suzuki planned to meet Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, a former Russian ambassador to Japan, on Tuesday to discuss the possibility of once again allowing ancestral grave visits by former residents of Russian-held islands off Hokkaido, which are claimed by Japan. They include Habomai, Shikotan, Kunashiri and Etorofu.

Visits to graves on the islands, which lie off Hokkaido＊s eastern coast, are currently suspended. Instead, former islanders can conduct limited ceremonies on boats anchored offshore. Seven offshore visits to two of the four islands 〞 Kunashiri and Habomai 〞 are planned for August and September.

In the last days of World War II, the Soviet Union took the four islands and the southern half of Sakhalin. Japan was forced to cede Sakhalin but still claims what it calls the Northern Territories.

There are about 5,100 former residents of the four islands still alive. They were evicted by Russian troops in August 1945 after Moscow invaded. Their average age is now over 88 years old.

The Hokkaido-based Suzuki made a surprise trip to Russia in October 2023, which was opposed by the central government and angered Suzuki＊s then-party, Nippon Ishin no Kai.

After returning to Japan, Suzuki resigned from Nippon Ishin, as many of its members had protested the visit. In particular, he was criticized for comments to the Russian media in which he said Russia would be victorious in its war with Ukraine.

Suzuki, a former foreign minister from eastern Hokkaido and long considered especially close to Russia, repeated those comments Sunday, saying on his website that in all likelihood Ukraine will never defeat Russia.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said Suzuki did not notify Prime Minister Fumio Kishida＊s administration in advance of his plans, and refrained from commenting on what he might be doing in Russia. But he did not condone the trip.

※We are asking Japanese citizens not to travel to Russia for any purpose whatsoever,§ he told reporters Monday.