Japan wants to conclude a peace treaty with Russia

The current Japanese government hopes to conclude a peace treaty with Russia once the conflict in Ukraine ends and, ultimately, to ,,resolve the issue of the northern territories’’.

          ,,Japanese-Russian relations are in a difficult state, but our country will continue to make efforts to resolve territorial issues and conclude a peace treaty’’, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said during a speech to the country’s parliament.

          In early November this year, Takeshi Iwaya, the new Japanese Foreign Minister, made a similar statement.

          ,,Regarding the Kuril Islands, we intend to maintain the course towards resolving their status issue. Japan’s policy on reaching an agreement with Russia has not changed’’, the diplomat said.

          The Soviet Union and Japan did not sign a peace treaty after World War II, the main obstacle being the sovereignty of the Kuril Islands, a group of 56 volcanic islands in East Asia, which the Soviets annexed from Japan after entering the war against the country for the last time in August 1945. The Japanese still claim sovereignty over the islands of Iturup, Kunashir, and Shikotan, as well as a significant number of inhabited islands – the Habomai Islands. In 1956, Moscow and Tokyo signed a joint declaration recognizing the end of the war between them, but a treaty to resolve the dispute over the Kuril Islands has not been formalized to this day.