Russia’s sovereignty over Kuril Islands non-negotiable - Lavrov

MOSCOW, January 14. /TASS/. Russia’s sovereignty over the Kuril Islands is non-negotiable, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said following the first round of Russian-Japanese talks on making a peace treaty. "We pointed out to our Japanese friends that the sovereignty over the islands was non-negotiable. This is Russia’s territory," he stressed. Lavrov pointed out that to move towards making a peace treaty with Russia, Japan must recognize the results of World War II in full, including Russia’s sovereignly over the southern Kuril Islands. "Today, we confirmed our readiness to work based on the 1956 declaration, which means, first and foremost, that as the first mandatory step, our Japanese neighbors must recognize the results of World War II in full, including Russia’s sovereignly over the southern Kuril Islands. A thing to note is that it was enshrined in the United Nations Charter and numerous documents signed after World War II, including those signed on September 2, 1945, and a number of later documents," he noted. "This is our basic position and it is difficult to expect progress in other matters until a step is made in this direction," he added. At the same time, Lavrov said that major differences still remained between Moscow and Tokyo as far as the peace treaty issue went. "Initially, our positions were diametrically opposed, we mentioned it many times, but the political will of our leaders, eager to normalize relations between Russia and Japan, encourages us to boost dialogue," the Russian foreign Minister stressed. Kuril Islands issue Since the mid-20th century, Russia and Japan have been holding consultations in order to clinch a peace treaty as a follow-up to World War II. The Kuril Islands issue remains the sticking point since after WWII the islands were handed over to the Soviet Union while Japan laid claims to the four southern islands. In 1956, the two countries signed a joint declaration on ending the state of war and restoring diplomatic and all other relations, however, a peace treaty has still not been reached. Moscow has stated many times that Russia’s sovereignty over the islands cannot be called into question. On November 14, 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Singapore and agreed that the two countries would speed up peace treaty talks based on the 1956 declaration. The Joint Declaration said that the Soviet government was ready to hand Shikotan Island and a group of small islands over to Japan, adding that Tokyo would get actual control of the islands after a peace treaty was signed. However, after Japan and the United States had signed the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security in 1960, the Soviet Union withdrew its obligation to hand over the islands. A Soviet government’s memorandum dated January 27, 1960, said that those islands would only be handed over to Japan if all foreign troops were pulled out of the country. Read more