TOKYO, March 17. /TASS/. No new steps to implement the eight-point plan of economic cooperation between Japan and Russia are now possible due to the situation around Ukraine, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Thursday.
"As for the eight-point cooperation plan in view of the current situation, we understand that, naturally, new steps [on its implementation] are now impossible," he told parliament.
He admitted that the goals set forth by his predecessor, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, concerning the problem of "northern territories" (a term used in Tokyo to refer to the Kuril Islands) and a peace treaty with Russia have not been attained. "Regrettably, our efforts have yielded no result," he added.
According to the Japanese prime minister, decisions on future economic and business cooperation with Russia will be taken based on "the national interests of the Japanese people, based on issues of Japan’s energy security" and further development of the situation around Ukraine.
Economic cooperation between Tokyo and Moscow in recent years was based on the eight-point plan offered by Abe in May 2016. The document provides for developing relations in the spheres of energy, small-and medium-sized businesses, the industrialization of Russia’s Far East, and expanding exports. It also envisages cooperation in the area of advanced technologies, including nuclear power engineering, and in the sphere of humanitarian exchanges.
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.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in response to a request for help by the heads of the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, but aimed to demilitarize and denazify the country.
Following this step, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and several other countries announced sanctions against Russia individuals and legal entities.