TOKYO, April 3. /TASS/. Discussion of a complex document on good-neighborliness and cooperation with Japan is impossible at the current stage due to Tokyo's hostile policy towards Moscow, Russian Ambassador to Tokyo Nikolay Nozdrev told TASS.
"Before the current period of cooling bilateral relations with Japan, we were talking precisely about an agreement on peace, neighborliness and cooperation," the diplomat said, pointing out that it is wrong to call such a document simply "a peace treaty."
According to the ambassador, such a complex document should define the framework and the basis for the long-term development of relations for the foreseeable future. "This is indeed a wide-ranging complex document that regulates all the main spheres of bilateral relations," he said, adding that "of course, it is impossible to negotiate such a document with a country that actually pursues a hostile policy towards Russia at the present stage."
Moscow and Tokyo have been in negotiations on a peace treaty based on the outcome of World War II since the mid-20th century. The main obstacle to such an accord remains the disagreement over rights to the southern part of the Kuril Islands. After the war, the entire archipelago was incorporated into the Soviet Union, but Japan disputes the ownership of the islands of Iturup, Kunashir and Shikotan, as well as several small uninhabited islands. The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly stressed that Russia’s sovereignty over these islands is based on a firm legal foundation and is indisputable.
After the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, Tokyo imposed several packages of sanctions on Moscow. In this regard, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced in March 2022 that Moscow would stop negotiating a peace treaty with Tokyo. It was also decided to cancel visa-free travel privileges for Japanese citizens on the basis of the 1991 agreements on visa-free exchange between the southern Kuril Islands. In addition, the Russian side announced its withdrawal from the dialogue with Japan on the establishment of joint economic activities in the southern Kurils and blocked the extension of Japan’s status as a sectoral dialogue partner of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC).