MOSCOW, January 25. /TASS/. Tokyo continues to pursue a clearly unfriendly policy towards Moscow, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, commenting on Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s remark about his desire to resolve "the territorial issue" and sign a peace treaty with Russia despite the current difficulties in bilateral relations.
"Japan maintains a clearly unfriendly stance on our country," he told TASS, when asked if Tokyo had sent any signals about its readiness to restore ties.
The Japanese premier once again expressed a wish to sign a peace treaty with Moscow on January 24. According to him, Japan-Russia relations are "in a difficult situation" but Tokyo "will continue to pursue a policy aimed at resolving the territorial issue and signing a peace treaty." Ishiba’s predecessor Fumio Kishida also made such statements in the past.
From the mid-20th century until their suspension, Moscow and Tokyo had been holding talks in an attempt to hammer out a peace treaty as a follow-up to fighting between the two countries at the tail end of World War II in August-September 1945. The issue of the southern Kuril Islands has perennially remained the key sticking point in such talks, however. In 1945, jurisdiction over the entire archipelago was awarded to the Soviet Union. Tokyo, however, laid claim to the islands of Iturup, Kunashir and Shikotan, and a group of uninhabited islands. The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly stated that Moscow’s sovereignty over the islands is enshrined in international law and cannot be called into question.
Japan introduced several packages of sanctions on Russia after Moscow launched its special military operation in Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry announced in this regard that Moscow was suspending consultations on the peace treaty issue with Tokyo.
Addressing a plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club last fall, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out that Moscow had not taken a single step against Tokyo. He added that Russia would respond in kind if Japan showed willingness to return to cooperation.