Russia to stick to 1956 accords with Japan over territorial issue

Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared that Russia is ready to continue fulfilling the agreements signed with Japan on the disputed territories, but the two sides have not reached consensus on the matter, the Interfax news agency reported on Monday.

At a conference with government members on Monday, Putin said: "we have always fulfilled and will continue to fulfill the obligations we have assumed, especially in ratified documents, but only to the extent to which our partners are prepared to fulfill the same understandings."

"At this point, as we know, we have failed to achieve an understanding to the extent, which we see and which we saw it in 1956," Putin said.

In an interview with Russia's NTV television network on Sunday, Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov declared that Russia "has always recognized the existence of a territorial problem in her relations with Japan and wants to settle relations with Japan in full, for which purpose it is important to sign a peace treaty."

As regards the joint Soviet-Japanese declaration signed in 1956 and ratified by the Supreme Soviet of the former USSR, the minister recalled that the declaration put on record the understanding that the islands of Habomai and Shikotan would be transferred to Japan after the signing of the peace treaty.

"But for various reasons, it was not done then," Lavrov said. "As a successor to the USSR we recognize the 1956 declaration as extant, but its implementation demands that both parties maintain dialogue," he added.

For a long time, the territorial issue constituted a huge obstacle to development of the relations between Russia and Japan. At present, Tokyo refuses to sign a peace treaty with Russia for the lack of solution to the territorial issue, the report said.

Konstantin Kosachyov, chairman of the State Duma international affairs committee, said on Monday that Russia and Japan interpret the 1956 declaration differently. Russia agrees to the possible handover of the two islands only if Russia and Japan sign a peace treaty, which would state that the two nations have no territorial claims against each other, he said.