Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stated about the readiness to put end to the territorial dispute with Moscow, he told at the meeting with former citizens of southern Kurils, which was held before the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Japan – RIA News reports.
“I would like to go to the high-level negotiations (with Russia), in order to put end to the territorial problem”, Kiodo quotes the words of the Prime Minister.
Putin’s visit to Japan is scheduled for December15-16. The Russian leader is expected to visit Yamaguchi Prefecture, the motherland of ancestors of Shinzo Abe, and Tokyo.
Japan vies for Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Khabomai, referring to the bilateral Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and Russia (1855). The return of islands is the condition, which Tokyo made for conclusion of the treaty of peace with Russia, which was not signed at the end of World War II.
The Moscow’s position is that southern Kurils are the part of USSR as per the results of World War II, and the Russian sovereignty over them has the appropriate international and legal registration.
In early September, Putin and Abe conducted negotiations at Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. The agreement on the date of visit of the Russian president to Japan, which was postponed since 2014, became one of the results of this meeting. After this, the leaders of two countries also met at APEC in Peru.
