MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. Russian Security Council Deputy Head Dmitry Medvedev announced Moscow’s plans to develop the Kuril Islands, including by deploying new weapons there.

"The Kurils will develop actively, and their strategic role will grow in parallel, including the deployment of new weapons there," the senior Russian official wrote on VKontakte.

Commenting on a remark from Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida saying that Tokyo was still working toward resolving its territorial dispute and signing a peace treaty with Moscow, Medvedev said that "nobody is opposed to a peace treaty," given that Japan understands several key principles, one of them being that Russia plans to develop the Kurils. "This is not a `disputed region’, this is Russia," he emphasized.

Earlier, Kishida pledged more efforts "to promote sanctions against Russia and support Ukraine." The Japanese premier lamented that the relationship between Japan and Russia was aggravated by what he called Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.