MOSCOW, October 12. /TASS/. A statement by Japan’s new Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, that the Southern Kuril Islands fall under Tokyo’s sovereignty is a falsification of history and can be seen as a revision of the results of World War II, a senior Russian lawmaker said on Tuesday.
"Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s populist statements are geared not only to gain authority in his own country but also to cater to the US authorities who are always glad when someone criticizes or is seeking to ‘bite’ Russia on the international arena. The Japanese prime minister’s words about the sovereignty of the Southern Kuril Islands cannot change the existing status-quo," Viktor Bondarev, chairman of the defense and security committee of Russia’s Federation Council (upper parliament house), told TASS.
"Such pronouncements should be interpreted as a falsification of history, as these territories came over to the winning side. The results of the Second World War are no subject for discussion or revision," he stressed, adding that the resumption of this territorial dispute can be seen as an attempt to revise World War II’s results.
During debates in Japan’s lower parliament house on Tuesday, Kishida said that Japan’s sovereignty stretches to the Southern Kuril Islands. He also said that the territorial dispute should be finally settled and the Japanese government was set to sign a peace treaty with Russia.
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 of the Kuril Islands were incorporated into the Soviet Union. However, Japan challenged the ownership of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan islands and a number of uninhabited 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 so far. 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.