VOLGOGRAD, October 8. /TASS/. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s statement that it is impossible to sign a peace treaty with Russia until their territorial dispute is settled reflects Tokyo’s consistent approach on this issue, Japan’s Ambassador to Russia Toyohisa Kozuki said on Friday.
"The Japanese government has a consistent approach: first we settle the territorial dispute and then sign the peace treaty. It is a coherent policy. He [the new Japanese prime minister] has repeated the Japanese government’s key approach," he said.
In his first program speech at a plenary session of the Japanese parliament’s lower house, Kishida said that no peace treaty would be signed with Russia until the territorial dispute was settled. On Thursday, Kishida had a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The sides reiterated that the peace treaty talks would continue on the basis of the existing agreements, including those reached by Putin and the then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at their meeting in Singapore in 2018. Kishida spoke in favor of building trust-based relations with the Russian leader and expressed interest in personal meetings with him.
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 of the Lesser Kuril Ridge called the Habomai Islands in Japan.
In 1956, the Soviet Union and Japan signed a joint declaration on ceasing the state of war. The two countries resumed diplomatic and other relations, however no peace treaty has been signed until now.
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.