Japan believes Russia not to rescind 1956 pact on isle return+

TOKYO, Nov. 16 Kyodo - Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said Tuesday that Japan believes Russia will not rescind a 1956 joint declaration in which the Soviet Union agreed to eventually return two of four disputed islands off Hokkaido, as reported by a Russian
newspaper Monday.

Maehara told a press conference that Moscow did not touch upon any change in
its stance on the joint declaration during Saturday's summit talks between
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev as well
as at Maehara's meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that Moscow has changed its mind about
eventually returning two of the Russian-held islands to Japan in line with the
joint declaration and will no longer negotiate with Tokyo over the matter.
Maehara said Japan's policy of negotiating with Russian over the territorial
dispute based on past agreements and concluding a peace treaty after clarifying
the sovereignty of the four islands remains unchanged.
In October 1956, Japan and the Soviet Union signed a joint declaration to end
wartime hostilities and restore diplomatic ties. The Soviets agreed in the
declaration that it would return Shikotan Island and the Habomai islet group to
Japan following the conclusion of a bilateral peace treaty.
Tokyo and Moscow are at odds over the islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri and
Shikotan as well as the Habomai islet group -- known in Japan as the Northern
Territories and in Russia as the Southern Kurils -- which were seized by the
Soviet Union following Japan's surrender in World War II on Aug. 15, 1945.
The row has prevented Japan and Russia from signing a postwar peace treaty.
Medvedev has angered Japan as he visited Kunashiri Island on Nov. 1, becoming
the first leader from Russia or the Soviet Union to set foot on any of the four
islands.
==Kyodo