Russia, Japan sincerely interested in resolving territorial row.

29/10 Tass 111

TOKYO, October 29 (Itar-Tass) - Russia and Japan are "sincerely
interested" in resolving a territorial dispute and concluding a peace
treaty, but they still fail to reach compromise, Russian Deputy Foreign
Minister Alexei Borodavkin told Itar-Tass after consultations with his
Japanese counterparts.
"Of course, we touched upon conclusion of a peace treaty. Russia and
Japan are sincerely interested in erasing the problem from the context of
our relations," he said.
"However, our positions still cannot be considered close.
Unfortunately, this prevents us from reaching a compromise deal. At the
same time we are confident that the creation of favourable conditions,
i.e. relations of strategic partnership and cooperation, will allow us to
gradually move toward resolving the territorial problem," he said.
What Russia calls the Southern Kurils are known in Japan as the
Northern territories - four islands occupied by Soviet forces in 1945. The
decades-old territorial dispute prevents the two countries from
delimitating the border and signing a peace treaty. At the same time this
row is not an obstacle for developing bilateral relations in other areas.
In this respect the Russian diplomat sees real prospects for brining
cooperation between Tokyo and Moscow to a qualitatively new strategic
level.

-0-isk/ast