MOSCOW, March 22. /TASS/. Tokyo’s decisions regarding anti-Russian sanctions destroyed the atmosphere of friendship and neighborliness between the two nations and made peace treaty talks impossible, Russian Ambassador to Japan Mikhail Galuzin told the Rossiya-24 TV channel on Tuesday.
"We perceive the peace treaty as the foundational document for bilateral relations, which defines perspectives for their development in the spirit of friendship, partnership and neighborliness. However, against the backdrop of sanctions-related decisions, made by the Japanese side and its so-called like-minded associates, negotiating a document of this kind simply becomes impossible," the diplomat said.
"The sanctions-related decisions made the spirit of friendship and neighborliness disappear without a trace," Galuzin added.
Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters earlier on Tuesday that Tokyo had expressed its protest to Russia’s Ambassador to Japan Mikhail Galuzin over Moscow’s decision to abandon peace treaty talks.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday Moscow had terminated peace treaty talks with Tokyo in light of unilateral restrictions imposed by Japan against Russia over Ukraine. It stated that a decision had been made to terminate visa-free trips by Japanese citizens on the basis of agreements on visa-free exchanges between Russia’s South Kuril Islands and Japan of 1991 and the 1999 agreement on simple travel rules for those Japanese who would like to visit their former places of residence on the islands.
Russia said it was quitting the dialogue with Japan on joint economic activity on the South Kuril Islands and blocked the prolongation of Japan’s status of a sectoral dialogue partner of the Organization of Black Sea Economic Cooperation.
Russia and Japan have been negotiating a peace treaty after World War II since the mid-20th century. The main stumbling block to this is the issue of the ownership of the southern Kuril Islands. After the end of World War II, all Kuril Islands were incorporated into the Soviet Union. However, Japan challenged the ownership of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan islands and a number of uninhibited islands.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly said that Russia’s sovereignty over these islands, which is committed to paper in international documents, cannot be called to question.