Photo:
Russian geographical society/Andrei Gorban
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at the meeting of the upper house of Parliament that his country’s position on the issue of the four Islands of the South Kuril Islands has not undergone any changes.
“What I said to President (Vladimir) Putin (on the discussion of the sharing of Kunashir, Shikotan, Iturup and Habomai, which are claimed by Japan – ed.) is related to the content of ongoing negotiations, and I will not comment on it, but as far as the Northern territories (in Japan called the four Islands – ed.), our position has not changed,” said Abe.
At the same time, answering the question of another Deputy, Abe said that the question was insoluble in 70 years, one summit is not to solve “the main thing is that Russia and Japan move for the future of these island on the basis of win-win – mutual benefit”.
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. The position of Moscow consists that southern Kuriles became part of the Soviet Union at the end of the Second world war and the Russian sovereignty over them has the appropriate international legal formalization.