Officials in Russia's Far Eastern Sakhalin region said on Tuesday that a delegation from China's northeastern Heilongjiang province had visited one of the islands at the center of a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia.
According to the Russian side, the visit took place as exchanges and cooperation between Heilongjiang province and the Russian Far East continue. The announcement, however, did not provide details on the delegation's composition, the specific timing, or the official purpose of the trip.
Japan and Russia have long been at odds over sovereignty over the island chain that Japan calls the Northern Territories and Russia calls the Kuril Islands. The islands lie in waters northeast of Japan, near Hokkaido.
The Chinese delegation's visit was announced amid continuing complex developments in relations among the parties involved, and there was no immediate reaction from Japan or China to the information.
