The statement of the newly elected Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida that Tokyo’s sovereignty covers the Northern Territories (Japan’s name for the South Kurils – TASS) may complicate his further negotiations with Moscow. The Kuril Islands dispute is a done deal in 1945, First Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, Vladimir Dzhabarov reported on Tuesday.
“I think that it is not good that the Japanese prime minister made this statement, since, from my point of view, it complicates his further negotiations with our leadership. It is clear that Moscow won’t ignore this kind of statement,” he said.
The senator recalled that the new edition of the Russian Constitution does not provide for the dispossession of Russian territories to other countries.
According to him, this sort of statement by the prime minister is due to the fact that he had said this in front of his deputies before taking office. “Most likely, this is a demonstrative performance to show the inviolability of the theory that the Japanese have been adhering to for many years. For us, this dispute was closed back in 1945. We have repeatedly told them that we are ready to conclude a peace treaty without any discussion of territorial claims,” Dzhabarov concluded.
