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Peace treaty to remove psychological barriers between Tokyo, Moscow, says envoy to Russia

Toyohisa Kozuki believes PM Shinzo Abe seeks to sign a peace treaty, because he believes strengthening relations with Russia is a strategically important task

MOSCOW, April 18. /TASS/. Signing a peace treaty between Japan and Russia will help take bilateral relations to a qualitatively new level, Japanese Ambassador to Russia Toyohisa Kozuki told TASS.

"It is not easy to solve the problem, which has remained unsolved for more than 70 postwar years. However, signing a peace treaty by resolving the territorial issue will help remove the psychological barriers between the two countries and take bilateral relations to another, qualitatively different level," he said.

According to the ambassador, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seeks to sign a peace treaty, because he believes strengthening relations with Russia is a strategically important task.

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Abe more interested in dialogue with Russia than predecessors, says Japanese politician

The diplomat added that Tokyo and Moscow continued a constructive dialogue on the joint economic activities in the southern Kuril Islands.

"I believe our countries will be able to resolve the territorial issue and conclude a peace treaty through a forward-looking approach implying joint work on the future image of the four islands and the search for a mutually acceptable solution based on that," he stressed.

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