Russia says ‘certainly not’ to automatic return of disputed islands to Japan
- The dispute over the Kuril chain goes back to the end of the second world war
- Last week, Putin and Japanese leader Shinzo Abe agreed in Singapore to accelerate talks about the four islands in question
Russia said Sunday that upcoming talks about resolving a dispute with Japan over a group of islands claimed by Tokyo would not necessarily result in Moscow relinquishing them.
“Can you say that this means an automatic return of some territories? Certainly not,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian television in remarks reported by the TASS agency.
The dispute over the Kuril chain, known as the Northern Territories in Japan, goes back to the end of the second world war, when their annexation by the Soviet Union was confirmed in peace treaties between the victorious powers and accepted by Japan.
Tokyo claims however that some islands, which it refers to as its Northern Territories, were not covered in the agreement and should be handed back.
The dispute has been standing in the way of a peace treaty between the two nations that would officially end second world war hostilities.