Islands of discord

On Monday, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Japanese colleague Taro Kono met in Moscow as part of the first round of the new format of negotiations on a peace treaty between countries. For several decades, its conclusion has been preventing the disputing of the territory of the Kuril Islands. Last fall, President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to speed up the process, but he still passes quite stressfully.

“We are at the beginning of the journey,” said Sergey Lavrov during a press conference following a meeting with Kono. The minister noted that Russian-Japanese relations are now on the rise, especially in the field of culture and economics, but without recognizing the results of the Seconds of the Second World War in full, including the sovereignty of the Russian Federation over all the islands of the South Kuril ridge, it is impossible to count on progress. “This is our basic position, and without a step in this direction it is very difficult to count on the movement of the forward on other issues,” the head of the department emphasized.

A rally for the return of "northern territories" / Flickr.com

Recall that Tokyo claims the islands of Kunashir, Shikotan, Iturup and a group of small uninhabited islands, which is called the Habomians in Japan, referring to the bilateral Simodsky treatise on trade and the borders of 1855. The Russian side acts on the basis of the 1956 declaration and other documents signed as part of the end of World War II. Then Moscow agreed to consider the possibility of the transfer of Habomai and Shikotan (only after the conclusion of a peace treaty), but the fate of Kunashir and Iturup was not affected. The union hoped that the joint declaration would put an end to the dispute, but Japan considered the document only part of the solution to the problem, continuing to insist on the return of all islands. From their position, the declaration signed in Yalta has no legal force, and territorial acquisitions as a result of the war should record a peace treaty. All followed negotiations have not led to the result, and the peace treaty between the countries has not yet been signed.

During the press conference, the Foreign Minister emphasized that in the internal legislation of the country of the rising sun, there is still a wording “northern territories” in relation to disputed islands. According to the department, this is unacceptable, the relevant questions were asked to the Minister of Kono during a bilateral meeting. “Nobody agreed on the return of these territories, it directly contradicts Japanese obligations under the UN Charter,” Lavrov said.

Shinzo Abe and Vladimir Putin / Mikhail Metzel / Photo-Higher School of TASS

The issue of concluding a peace treaty between Russia and Japan President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Sinzo Abe activated last November in Singapore. Then Abe promised to make concessions and, in the case of transferring the Japanese side of the Russian part of the Kuril Islands, not to place US military bases there. Residents of Sakhalin began to collect signatures against the program. At the same time, the study of the Levada Center showed that the number of supporters to resolve the issue in favor of Japan among Russians increased in two years by 10 percent. After that, the Japanese prime minister saw the Russian leader in the fields of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires.

In early January, the head of Japan promised not to evict the Russians from the smoking, in the case of transferring the islands. Concerned to this statement by the Foreign Ministry called the Japanese ambassador to Moscow and warned about the danger of distorting the essence of the "agreements of the leaders of Russia and Japan to accelerate the negotiation process." And the State Duma deputies soon published the bill "On Territorial claims to the Russian Federation by Japan."

State Duma, Cabinets of Deputies / duma.gov.ru

Today, the press secretary of Vladimir Putin Dmitry Peskov spoke on the topic of Russian-Japanese relations. “There can be no talk of ensuring that some harm to the interests of our citizens, inhabitants smoke,” said the presidential representative.

Sergei Lavrov announced that now there will be deputies of foreign ministers from two sides to contact on the controversial issue. They will present the results of the work by the end of January, at this time a new, but probably not the last meeting of Abe and Putin. The purpose of the heads of state is to develop a wording that will arrange both sides. It is not possible to do this for 70 years.