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Russia-Japan dispute over Kuril Islands

Russia presents peace treaty concept to Japan, no response yet — Lavrov

The Russian top diplomat emphasized that the Japanese authorities had repeatedly said they recognized the outcome of WWII, except for the status of the southern Kuril Islands

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

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MOSCOW, July 10. /TASS/. Moscow has presented the conceptual framework of a peace treaty to Japan but received no response so far, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov addressed the Primakov Readings international forum dubbed Russia and the Post-COVID World.

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He pointed out that the treaty needed to be in line with today’s reality and cover a wide range of bilateral and global issues. "We have put forward the conceptual framework of a treaty but our Japanese colleagues have not yet responded to it specifically," Lavrov said. "The outcome of World War II should be the foundation of all things that determine the future of our relations," he added.

The Russian top diplomat emphasized that the Japanese authorities had repeatedly said they recognized the outcome of WWII, except for the status of the southern Kuril Islands. He added that it was a non-legal position because by signing the United Nations Charter, Tokyo had fully recognized the outcome of the war.

"We have heard our Japanese neighbors make statements that they are ready to make a peace treaty as soon as the territorial issue is resolved," Lavrov went on to say. "However, this is not what we agreed on. We agreed to make a peace treaty as required by the 1956 declaration," he noted.

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Dispute over Kuril Islands

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