• Live
    • Audio Only
  • google plus
  • facebook
  • twitter
News > Japan

Japan and Russia Agree to Move Forward on Peace Treaty

  • In the first talks since Kishida took office as prime minister this week, the leaders agreed to press ahead with negotiations based on a previous 1956 agreement.

    In the first talks since Kishida took office as prime minister this week, the leaders agreed to press ahead with negotiations based on a previous 1956 agreement. | Photo: Twitter/@Amb_Yakovenko

Published 7 October 2021
Opinion

Today, Japan's new Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, disclosed that he agreed with Russian President Vladimir Putin to advance negotiations for a post-war peace treaty between their countries.

At a press conference, Kishida reported that during a telephone conversation with Putin, the two agreed to resolve the issue of the status of four islands now controlled by Russia.

RELATED:

Japan to Push for WWII-Era Peace Treaty with Russia

The head of government said he expressed his desire to develop relations between Tokyo and Moscow which are mutually beneficial. At the same time, Putin declared his intention to continue dialogue on a variety of bilateral issues.

Japan and Russia have a decades-long territorial dispute over the sovereignty of the four islands, occupied by the then Soviet Union following Japan's surrender in 1945 at the end of World War II.

Japan, which recognizes the islands as Northern Territories, argues that the annexation was illegal and demands their return. At the same time, Russia claims it was a legitimate outcome of the war and calls them the Southern Kurils.

In the first talks since Kishida took office as prime minister this week, the leaders agreed to press ahead with negotiations based on previous agreements, including a 1956 joint declaration, which states that two of the four islands (Shikotan and the Habomai group of islets) will be handed over to Japan after the conclusion of a peace treaty.

Comment
0
Comments
Post with no comments.