TOKYO, January 30. /TASS/. Japan would like to conclude a peace treaty with Russia, but intends to continue the policy of anti-Russian sanctions and support for Ukraine, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said when delivering a keynote speech at a plenary session of the lower house of parliament.

"We will continue to actively promote sanctions against Russia and support for Ukraine," he said stating a difficult situation in the bilateral relations due to Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.

"But Japan remains firmly committed to the course aimed at resolving the territorial issue and concluding a peace treaty," he added.

Kishida also recalled that in the second half of February a conference will be held in Tokyo on the problem of restoring Ukraine.

Moscow and Tokyo have been in talks since the middle of last century with the aim of working out a peace agreement after World War II. The disagreement over the rights to the southern part of the Kuril Islands remains the stumbling block. After the war, the entire archipelago was incorporated into the Soviet Union, but Japan disputes control of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and a group of small uninhabited islands. Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly stressed that Moscow's sovereignty over these territories, which has the appropriate international legal framework, is not in question.

In March 2022, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Moscow was terminating talks with Tokyo on a peace treaty due to Japan's unilateral restrictions on Russia in connection with the situation in Ukraine. Moscow has also withdrawn from the dialogue with Tokyo on joint economic activities in the southern Kuril Islands and blocked the extension of Japan's status as a sectoral dialogue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.