MOSCOW, September 5. /TASS/. Japan is reluctant to learn lessons from the past, which creates obstacles to resolving the peace treaty issue, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, commenting on recent remarks by Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga. He was referring to the celebrations to mark the 73rd anniversary of the end of WWII that took place on the southern Kuril Islands.

"The statements by a high-ranking Japanese politician indicate that Tokyo tends to forget history lessons, burying in oblivion Japan’s role in unleashing a military aggression in Asia and ignoring the outcome of World War II and the realities of the modern world order based on the UN Charter," the ministry noted. "We consider Japan’s reluctance to learn due lessons from the past to be a serious obstacle to resolving the peace treaty issue."

On Tuesday, Suga told reporters at a news conference in Tokyo that the fact that Russia is "beefing up its military presence on the four northern islands (that’s what Japan calls Russia’s southern Kuril Islands - TASS) contravenes Japan’s stance." He added that Tokyo "issued an official protest through diplomatic channels via its Embassy in Moscow, stating that this is unacceptable."

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the statement puzzled Moscow. "Instead of such protests, which, by the way, were expressed in a telephone call by an employee of the Japanese Embassy in Moscow to a junior diplomat at the Russian Foreign Ministry’s territorial department, we would advise our partners to embark on rethinking their own history," the ministry stressed.

Russia and Japan have been in talks to sign a peace treaty since the mid-20th century. The main stumbling block to achieving this is the ownership of the southern Kuril Islands. After the end of World War II, the Kuril Islands were incorporated into the Soviet Union. However, the ownership of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan Islands and the Habomai Islands is being challenged by Japan. Russia’s Foreign Ministry has stated on numerous occasions that Russia’s sovereignty over the islands is beyond any doubt. In 1956, the Soviet Union and Japan signed a joint declaration on ending the state of war, but no peace treaty has been signed to date.