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Kommersant
Tokyo will be hard to continue talks with Russia about four Islands the southern Kurils and the conclusion of a peace Treaty, said foreign Minister Fumio Kishida.
“Based on the new approach, we will persistently continue negotiations on the ownership of the four Northern island, (as in Japan called the Kunashir, Iturup, Shikotan and Habomai – ed.) and the conclusion of a peace Treaty,” said the Minister, speaking at the opening session of Parliament.
He noted that an important step for the conclusion of a peace Treaty with Russia was the visit to Japan of the Russian President, held in December last year. He stressed that Tokyo intends to continue to promote political dialogue and to develop Russian-Japanese relations.
Kishida recalled that at the meeting in December an agreement was reached to start negotiations on joint economic activities on the Islands of the South Kuril Islands and on free visit these Islands former residents.
During Putin’s visit to Japan on 15-16 December, was signed 12 inter-governmental documents, as well as the 68 documents on business projects in accordance with the plan of cooperation between the two countries in eight directions. Also agreed to start talks on joint economic activities on the four Islands of the South Kuril Islands, which Russia proposed in 1990-ies.
As previously stated the President of Russia Vladimir Putin, Russia has no territorial problems with Japan, that Japan believes that she has them. The President also noted that “the absence of a peace Treaty between Russia and Japan still have, of course, is an anachronism of the past”. He expressed hope that the cooperation of Russia and Japan on the Kuril Islands will contribute to creating a favorable atmosphere for the continuation of negotiations on the conclusion of a peace Treaty. According to the President of the Russian Federation, Russia and Japan, it is necessary to stop the “historic ping-pong” on the Kuril Islands and to understand that the fundamental interests of both countries require the final settlement of the territorial issue and conclude a peace Treaty of Russia with Japan must take precedence over trade and economic issues, as such agreement will create conditions for long-term interaction. He added that the Kuril Islands could not become a bone of contention, and is the unifying element for the decision of a question on the peace Treaty.
Relations between Russia and Japan for many years overshadows the absence of a peace Treaty. Japan claims the Islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan and Habomai, referring to bilateral Treatise on trade and borders of 1855. The return of the Islands Tokyo made it a condition of signing a peace Treaty with Russia, which after the Second world war and was not signed. Moscow’s position is that the southern Kuril Islands became part of the Soviet Union at the end of the Second world war and the Russian sovereignty over them with appropriate international legal design, not subject to doubt.