Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga promised to move forward in resolving the dispute with Russia over the Kuril Islands, TASS reports.
According to him, in the new negotiations, all agreements reached between the two states on the disputed territories by the Japanese side will be observed. Suga stressed that he will make every effort to get the situation off the ground, and said that the Kuril Islands are a problem that needs to be solved, and not left to descendants.
As a result of the Second World War, a peace treaty was not concluded between Moscow and Tokyo. The main obstacle to its signing was the unresolved territorial dispute over the southern part of the Kuriles – the islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai group.
The Japanese side calls the South Kuriles “northern territories” and does not recognize Russian sovereignty over them. Moscow, in turn, does not recognize the very fact of the territorial dispute. Washington, like Tokyo, considers the South Kuriles to be part of Japan.