No Deadline for Solving Isle Issue with Japan: Putin Aide

Moscow, Dec. 13 (Jiji Press)--Yuri Ushakov, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, indicated Tuesday Moscow's unwillingness to fix a deadline for resolving the issue of a Japan-Russia peace treaty including the territorial dispute over four Russian-held northwestern Pacific islands. Speaking to reporters of Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency and other media outlets, Ushakov said he believes it is not appropriate to specify a deadline for finding a resolution acceptable to both Japan and Russia. Putin, who will visit Japan from Thursday, is expected to explore ways to achieve progress on the territorial issue over the islands off Hokkaido, called the Northern Territories in the Asian country, in talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. In 1997, then Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and then Russian President Boris Yeltsin, at a meeting in the Russian city of Krasnoyarsk, agreed to aim for concluding a peace treaty to formally end their World War II hostilities by 2000. Ushakov's comment can be taken to indicate that no similar deadline is likely to be set over the issue in the upcoming talks. Meanwhile, Ushakov said there is a possibility that Abe and Putin will announce a statement on joint economic activities on the four islands, suggesting the likelihood of such a deal. In Japan, expectations are growing for major progress on the territorial issue ahead of Putin's arrival. However, Ushakov said he cannot overlook excessive expectations that are being fueled. He said Russia will continue to explain that there is no simple resolution. At an international conference in October this year, Putin himself said it would be impossible and harmful to set a deadline for concluding peace treaty talks with Japan. END