The Japanese government will continue to seek to resolve the issue of ownership of the “four northern islands“, as Japan calls the southern part of the Kuril Islands, and conclude a peace treaty with Russia.
This was announced at a regular press conference by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi of Japan.
“The Japanese government will continue to adhere to the position aimed at resolving the issue of ownership of the four northern islands and concluding a peace treaty“, Hayashi noted. He once again acknowledged that relations between Tokyo and Moscow are currently “in an extremely difficult state“ due to the situation in Ukraine.
The Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan also declared that Japan will continue to strive for the resumption of visa-free travel to the Southern Kuril Islands so that former Japanese residents of these territories can visit the graves of their ancestors.
Since the middle of the last century, Moscow and Tokyo have been negotiating a peace treaty after World War II. The main obstacle to this remains disagreements over rights to the Southern Kuril Islands. After the end of the war, the entire archipelago was included in the Soviet Union, but Japan disputes ownership of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and a group of small uninhabited islands. At the same time, the Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly emphasized that Russian sovereignty over these territories, which has the appropriate international legal framework, is not subject to comment.
After Tokyo imposed anti-Russian sanctions in connection with the situation in Ukraine, Russia suspended consultations with Japan on the peace treaty. Moscow also withdrew from negotiations with Tokyo on establishing joint economic activity in the southern Kuril Islands and blocked the extension of Japan's status as a partner of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation for sectoral dialogue.
Later, Russia terminated the agreement with Japan on simplified visits to the Kuril Islands by Japanese citizens - former residents of these islands, as well as the agreement on the procedure for mutual travel. The Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized at the time that this measure did not affect the implementation of the Soviet-Japanese agreement on mutual visa-free visits to graves of July 2, 1986.