OREANDA-NEWS. The Russian Embassy has responded to a sarcastic statement by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, who on Thursday suggested holding a marathon and walking race during the 2020 Olympic Games in the southern Kuril Islands. The corresponding comment was published on Friday on the page of the Russian diplomatic mission on Facebook.

“For the information of the distinguished Mrs. Yuriko Koike, the governor of Tokyo, they are sure that Japan has enough of its lands with a cool climate. But the Russian South Kuril Islands do not belong to them”, the text emphasizes. The Russian Embassy also expressed confidence that "sport should unite, and not serve as an occasion for confrontational jokes".

The Governor of Tokyo on Thursday, commenting on the situation surrounding the transfer of the marathon and race walking competitions at the 2020 Olympics from the capital to the northern city of Sapporo, jokingly proposed to hold them in the "northern territories", as the southern Kuril Islands are called in Japan.