Russia will proceed from bilateral documents in territorial dispute with Japan - Lavrov

TOKYO, April 15. /TASS/. Russia will proceed from the norms of international law and current relations with Tokyo in the issue of territorial dispute with Japan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a press conference on Friday after talks with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida. "Russia and Japan are guided by the position based on the international law, UN Charter, where the results of the Second World War are fixed, as well as existing agreements between our countries," Lavrov said. The foreign minister noted that the declaration of 1956 states "concrete things on consecutive steps and coordinating further actions." "We will proceed from that," he noted. Russia and Japan have no peace treaty signed after World War II. Settlement of the problem inherited by Russia’s diplomacy from the Soviet Union is hampered by the years-long dispute over the four islands of Russia’s Southern Kurils -- Shikotan, Khabomai, Iturup and Kunashir, which Japan calls its northern territories. After World War II, in September 1945, Japan signed the capitulation, and in February 1946, the Kuril Islands were declared territories of the Soviet Union. During the Cold War, Moscow did not recognize the territorial problem, but in October 1993, when Russian president Boris Yeltsin was on an official visit in Japan, the existence of the problem was confirmed officially. However, the two countries have reached no compromise over the dispute yet. Read more