TOKYO, April 22. /TASS/. Japan's Foreign Ministry has designated the southern part of the Kuril Islands as "illegally occupied" in its annual Bluebook diplomacy report, published on Friday on the foreign ministry's website.
"The issue of the Northern Territories (Japanese name for the Southern Kurils - TASS) is the biggest unresolved one between Japan and Russia. The Northern Territories are islands over which Japan has sovereignty and which are an inherent part of Japan, but at present they are illegally occupied by Russia," the report says. It is noted that in recent years, Japan has also made efforts to actively negotiate to resolve the territorial issue and sign a peace treaty.
In addition, the document included the phrase that Russia's special military operation in Ukraine is "a challenge to the foundations of the international order, such as the rule of law and the prohibition of the use of force." The report notes that against the backdrop of the situation in Ukraine, the Japanese side is now in no position to make any predictions about the further course of negotiations on the ownership of the "Northern Territories". In addition, the Japanese Foreign Ministry claims that Russia has allegedly made efforts in recent years "to undermine the unity of the territories of neighboring countries in order to regain the sphere of influence it lost after the Cold War."
Last year, a Japanese Foreign Ministry report noted that the "Northern Territories" are islands over which Japan's sovereignty extends. "Holding frequent dialogues between the two leaders and Foreign Ministers, the government of Japan has been energetically continuing negotiations with Russia to conclude a peace treaty through the resolution of the issue of the attribution of the Four Northern Islands," the document said then.
Situation around Moscow-Tokyo talks
Moscow and Tokyo have been in talks on a peace treaty based on the results of World War II since the middle of last century. Sovereignty over the southern part of the Kuril Islands is the stumbling block. After World War II the whole archipelago was taken over by the Soviet Union, but Japan still disputes sovereignty over Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and a group of small uninhabited islands. The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly stressed that Russia’s sovereignty over these islands has a firm international legal basis to rely on and is indisputable.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24 launched a special military operation in Ukraine following a request for assistance from the leaders of the Donbass republics. After that, the US, EU, and UK, as well as several other states, announced that they were imposing sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities.
In March, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow was terminating peace treaty talks with Tokyo in the light of Japan’s newly-introduced unilateral restrictions against Russia over the situation in Ukraine. Also, a decision had been made to terminate visa-free trips by Japanese citizens on the basis of agreements on visa-free exchanges between Russia’s South Kuril Islands and Japan of 1991 and the 1999 agreement on simple travel rules for those Japanese who would like to visit their former places of residence on the islands. The Russian side is also withdrawing from a dialogue with Japan on establishing joint economic activities in the Southern Kuril Islands and blocking the prolongation of Japan’s status of a sectoral dialogue partner of the Organization of Black Sea Economic Cooperation.