Contents tagged with Kuril Islands

  • Kremlin: Russia's relations with Japan have reached a dead end

    The Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov in the program "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" on Russia 1 TV channel said that the Kremlin regrets that Russia and Japan cannot find a solution to the issues in their relationship.

    "We state with regret that we have not yet managed to solve several fundamental problems," Peskov said. He stressed that Moscow has a positive attitude to the development of relations with Tokyo.

    The World War II peace treaty between Russia and Japan has not been …

  • Russia is ready to give Japan two disputed Kuril Islands with conditions

    The Russian authorities are ready to hand over two disputed Islands of Shikotan and Habomai of the Kuril archipelago to Japan. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the handover of the two Islands is possible only after Japan's recognition of the results of the Second World War and the conclusion of a peace treaty, report Russian state TV channels.

    Lavrov also added that Russia is a legal successor of the USSR and therefore, recognizes the Declaration of 1956, according to which the …

  • Russian Foreign Ministry summons Japanese Ambassador over Kuril Islands

    The Ambassador of Japan in Russia, Touchesa Kazuki, was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry where Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov informed him of the inadmissibility Tokyo’s criticism over the actions of Russia in the Kuril Islands, says Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

    Earlier, Tokyo criticized the visit of the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to the Kuril Islands and protested because of the military drills at Kunashir Island. On August 2 , Dmitry Medvedev …

  • Japan condemns Russian Prime Minister's visit to Kuril Islands

    The visit of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to the Kuril Islands damages Russian-Japanese relations, and Tokyo opposes Moscow's actions, reads the statement of the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

    "After the war, the territorial dispute with the Soviet Union and Russia was not resolved, even though more than 70 years have passed. In such circumstances, the visit of the Russian Prime Minister to the Northern territories (the Japanese description of the Southern Kuril Islands) is condemned by …

  • Japan-Russia peace treaty talks fall through yet again

    A new round of Russian-Japanese peace treaty negotiations has come to nothing. Since the end of World War II, a peace treaty between Japan and Russia, as the legal successor to the Soviet Union, has still not been signed. A declaration that the state of war between the counties has ended was signed in 1956.

    Until now, Japan has demanded that Russia return the southern islands of the Kuril chain – Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai. In negotiations on 14 July, Russia refused to even discuss …

  • Putin: Russia has no plans to hand over South Kurils

    Speaking on the program “Saturday news with Sergey Brilev” on Russia 1 TV channel, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is not going to hand over the South Kuril Islands to Japan.

    Answering the question of the host, whether it would be necessary to lower the Russian flag that is raised in the South Kurils, President Putin said that "we do not have such plans," reports Interfax news agency.

    The USSR annexed the South Kurils in the end of the World War II. According to the Soviet– …

  • Japan abandons plan to sign peace treaty with Russia in June

    The Japanese government has decided to abandon its plan to sign a framework agreement for a peace treaty with Russia at the end of June, when the G20 summit will be held in Osaka, the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported on Saturday, citing government sources.

    The decision was reportedly made because Russia and Japan have been unable to overcome their disagreements on a number of historical matters and security concerns. Previously Japan had planned to sign a framework agreement for a …

  • Japan: Russia’s deployment of weapons in the Kuril Islands is unacceptable

    After the “2+2” meeting of the heads of diplomatic and defense departments of Russia and Japan, Japanese Foreign Minister Tarō Kōno said, that Tokyo considers the strengthening of Russia's military presence in the Southern Kuriles unacceptable, reports RIA Novosti.

    "Speaking of missile launches and the deployment and other reinforcement of Russia's military presence on the Northern Islands (the Islands of the southern part of the Kuril Chain), we told Russia that this is unacceptable from the …

  • Lavrov: Russia has no artificial deadlines for peace treaty with Japan

    Russia is not setting itself any “artificial deadlines” for signing a peace treaty with Japan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the end of the 55th Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

    “Russia has no artificial deadlines whatsoever. We are calmly explaining to our Japanese colleagues that nothing of the sort can be planned,” he said. “We will proceed on the basis of the 1956 Declaration.”

    “This stipulates an incontestable first step towards signing a peace treaty,” the …

  • Japanese Prime Minister Abe promises not to leave the problem of a peace treaty for future generations

    Japan's negotiations with Russia on a peace treaty should not be stopped and left for future generations, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stated at the congress of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan. The corresponding video was published on the party’s YouTube channel.

    “We should not hand over to future generations the problem that has not been solved during past 70 years. I am determined to solve this problem together with [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin and to continue …