TOKYO, January 25. /TASS/. Japan would like to resume humanitarian exchanges with Russia in the southern part of the Kuril Islands as soon as possible, including visits to graves located there, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told parliament on Wednesday.

"We hope that conditions will take shape soon under which it will be possible to resume exchanges on the four islands, including visits to graves, which is a top priority in relations with Russia," he said, noting that Tokyo was also exerting efforts to resume consultations with Russia on fishing in the southern part of the Kurils and holding an ongoing dialogue with Moscow at the level of embassies.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow and Tokyo were communicating only through embassies, since Japan, on its own initiative, had frozen other opportunities.

In March of last year, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow was ending negotiations with Tokyo on a peace treaty due to Japan’s unilateral restrictions on Russia in connection with the developments in Ukraine. Moscow also quit the dialogue with Tokyo on joint economic activities in the Southern Kuril Islands and blocked the extension of Japan's status as a sectoral dialogue partner of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization.

On September 5, Russia terminated its agreement with Japan on facilitated procedures for visits to the Kurils by Japanese citizens - former residents of these islands - as well as an agreement on the procedure for mutual trips. The Russian Foreign Ministry then stressed that this measure did not affect the Soviet-Japanese agreement on mutual visa-free visits to graves of July 2, 1986.

The program for visa-free exchanges began in 1992 on the basis of an intergovernmental agreement to improve mutual understanding. Since then, about 10,000 residents of the Iturup, Kunashir and Shikotan islands have visited Japan, and about 20,000 Japanese have traveled to the southern part of the Kurils. In September 2017, Moscow and Tokyo, under an agreement achieved at the summit level, arranged for the first charter flight to the southern islands of the Kuril Archipelago for their former residents to let them pay homage to the graves of their ancestors.