TOKYO, April 8. /TASS/. The Japanese government is determined to conclude a peace treaty with Russia despite the tensions in bilateral relations, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in an annual report.
"The government remains committed to the policy of resolving the issue of ownership of the Northern Territories [as the southern Kuril Islands of Russia are called in Japan] and concluding a peace treaty," reads the Diplomatic Bluebook report published by the Japanese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.
At the same time, the report once again reflected Tokyo’s position, which boils down to the fact that the southern part of the Kuril Islands is "an inherent territory of Japan" which is now allegedly "illegally occupied by Russia." The Japanese authorities almost never used this wording regarding the Kuril Islands during Shinzo Abe's tenure as the country’s prime minister, nor was such language used in official documents.
The ministry further emphasized that the resumption of the exchange program with the southern Kuril Islands, especially visits by former Japanese residents to the graves of their ancestors, remained one of the highest priorities for Japan.
Russia-Japan relations
Moscow and Tokyo have been in negotiations on a peace treaty based on the outcome of World War II since the mid-20th century. The main obstacle to such an accord remains the disagreement over rights to the southern part of the Kuril Islands. After the war, the entire archipelago was incorporated into the Soviet Union, but Japan disputes the ownership of the islands of Iturup, Kunashir, and Shikotan, as well as several small uninhabited islands. The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly stressed that Russia’s sovereignty over these islands is based on a firm legal foundation and is indisputable.
After Tokyo imposed anti-Russian sanctions over the situation in Ukraine, Russia halted consultations with Japan on a peace treaty. Moscow also withdrew from negotiations with Tokyo on the establishment of 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 (BSEC).
Later, 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.