TOKYO, December 2. /TASS/. Japan claims four islands located in the southern part of the Kuril Islands, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba stated on Monday.

Responding to questions in the Japanese parliament, Ishiba said that "the issue of ownership of the four islands is central to negotiations on a peace treaty with Russia." Thus, he outlined Japan's basic stance and once again noted that Russia has suspended dialogue on the issue.

Earlier, Ishiba said in a keynote speech in parliament that Japan is sticking to its course of "resolving the territorial issue and concluding a peace treaty" with Russia despite the current difficulties in Russian-Japanese relations.

Ishiba stated that Russia and Japan should conduct negotiations on the basis of all previous agreements, including those reached at the 2018 Japan-Russia summit in Singapore. At that time, Russian President Vladimir Putin and then Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe agreed to intensify dialogue on a peace treaty based on the Soviet-Japanese Joint Declaration of October 19, 1956, which provided for the end of the state of war and the restoration of diplomatic relations between both countries. In the declaration, the Soviet Union expressed its readiness to transfer to Japan the Habomai Islands and the island of Shikotan from the Lesser Kuril Chain, on the condition that the actual transfer of these islands to Japan would take place after the conclusion of a peace treaty.

Russia and Japan have been negotiating a peace treaty after WWII since the mid-20th century. The main stumbling block is the issue of the ownership of the South Kuril Islands. After the end of WWII, all Kuril Islands were incorporated into the Soviet Union. However, Japan challenged the ownership of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan islands, and a number of uninhabited islands. Russia's Foreign Ministry has repeatedly said that Russia's sovereignty over these islands, which is committed to paper in international documents, cannot be called into question. The Russian Foreign Ministry said in March 2022 that Moscow was stopping peace treaty talks with Tokyo after it imposed unilateral sanctions on Russia over the situation in Ukraine.

Russia, in turn, halted peace treaty negotiations with Japan and dialogue on joint economic activities in the South Kuril Islands. Additionally, Moscow rejected extending partner status in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) to Tokyo.