MOSCOW, April 22. /TASS/. The four islands in the southern part of the Kuril Ridge are an integral part of the territory of the Russian Federation, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, commenting on the Japanese Foreign Ministry's designation of the southern part of the Kuril Islands as "illegally occupied" in its annual Bluebook diplomacy report.
"All four islands are integral territory of the Russian Federation," he said.
He also said it is very difficult to talk about continuing the peace treaty talks with Japan under the current circumstances. "Obviously, now that Japan has become an unfriendly country and has joined a number of hostile actions toward the Russian Federation, it is very, very difficult to talk about continuing the peace treaty talks," the Kremlin spokesman pointed out.
Earlier, it was reported that the Japanese annual Bluebook diplomacy included the phrase that the southern part of the Kuril Islands is "an inherent territory of Japan," which is now allegedly "illegally occupied by Russia."
Moscow and Tokyo have been in talks on a peace treaty based on the results of World War II since the middle of last century. Sovereignty over the southern part of the Kuril Islands is the stumbling block. After World War II the whole archipelago was taken over by the Soviet Union, but Japan still disputes sovereignty over Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and a group of small uninhabited islands. The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly stressed that Russia’s sovereignty over these islands has a firm international legal basis to rely on and is indisputable.