Japanese prime minister says Tokyo and Moscow need to resolve issue of all Kuril Islands

TOKYO, January 31. /TASS/. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said he thinks the main goal of talks with Russia is to resolve the issue of the Kuril Islands. "The agenda for talks is resolving the issue of all four islands, as this is the consistent position of the Japanese government," Abe told the plenary session of the upper house of the Japanese parliament. The prime minister emphasized once again that Japan's holds sovereignty over all "northern territories" (this is what the Kuril Islands are called in Japan). "The northern territories are under our sovereignty. There has been no change in this position," he noted. Talking about the negotiations process, Abe said that "both Japan and Russia need to find a solution that will be mutually acceptable." "Moreover, I would want to abstain from more concrete discussions of how talks proceed and what terms are used, in order to avoid exerting negative effect on the negotiations process," the Japanese prime minister said. Read more