Contents tagged with Kuril Islands

  • Kremlin: Russia wants no US involvement in the peace process with Japan

    The Russian Foreign Ministry opposes the inclusion of the United States in the negotiations process with Japan, said the Ministry’s official representative, Maria Zakharova on Channel Russia 1.

    “Suddenly, the third party appears again in this bilateral dialogue established thanks to political will expressed by our government. And what is interesting about it is that we hear surprising and strange statements made by Japan in the USA that Japan is waiting for the support of the USA, or even …

  • Kremlin surprised that Japan decided to conduct a closed press conference after talks with Lavrov

    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs official spokeswoman Maria Zakharova reported in an interview on the “Sunday evening” program on television channel Russia-1 on Sunday, that the Japanese side plans to organize a closed briefing, scheduled for Monday, after talks between the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono.

    “This morning, Japanese diplomats sent out invitations to various media representatives on a closed briefing for tomorrow evening,” said …

  • Russia summons Japanese ambassador due to statements about Kuril islands

    The Russian Foreign Ministry has summoned Japanese Ambassador Toyohisa Kozuki due to statements made by the Japanese government on the Kuril islands, the ministry reported on its official website. 

    The ambassador was summoned due to statements by Tokyo that Japan would “waive” its claims to compensation for the Kuril islands. His attention was also drawn to statements by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe that the islands may be given back to Japan with the consent of the Russian citizens …

  • Japanese Prime Minister promises to conclude Kuril island negotiations with Russia

    Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe has promised to make every effort to finish the current negotiations with Russia and sign a peace treaty, the TV channel NHK reports.

    Shinzo Abe and his wife traveled to the homeland of his ancestors, the city of Nagato in the Yamaguchi Prefecture, and visited the grave of his father, Shintaro Abe. Shintaro served as Japan’s foreign minister between 1982 and 1986, and also worked to improve relations between Moscow and Tokyo.

    “I swore on my ancestors’ grave …

  • Moscow: There will be no referendum in Russia on accession of Kuril Islands to Japan

    There will be no referendums or polls in the Kuril Islands about incorporating the islands into Japan, member of the Duma Committee on International Affairs Anton Morozov told RIA Novosti. 

    Earlier, in an interview with the Asahi TV channel, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that Japan intends to incorporate the Southern Kuril Islands. However, Japan's position on the territorial dispute with Russia does not imply the eviction of Russians living there. 

    “The Russian Federation has a …

  • Japanese Prime Minister promises to consider opinions of Kurils residents when Russia hands the islands over

    In an interview on the TV channel Asahi, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that if Russia hands over some of the Kuril islands, Japan will definitely take into account the opinion of the local residents. 

    According to Abe, the negotiations with Russia will not initially mean a forced relocation of Russians from the islands. 

    “It must happen in such a way that the Russians living there agree to the transition of ownership to Japan,” the Japanese prime minister explained. 

    He noted that …

  • Protesters in Moscow oppose Kuril islands handover to Japan

    In Moscow there has been a series of solitary protests against the possibility of Russia handing over the Kuril islands to Japan, Radio Liberty reports. 

    Activists reportedly took to the streets with banners outside the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Duma, and the Border Guard Academy. 

    According to Sergey Ponomarev, a member of the “Russian Kurils” movement, the protesters are “concerned about Russia’s territorial integrity”. They do not approve of Russia beginning the peace …

  • Media: Russia preparing to hand over Kuril Islands to Japan

    Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin have appointed special representatives to negotiate the signing of a Japanese-Russian peace treaty.

    Russia and Japan have chosen their respective deputy foreign ministers Igor Morgulov and Takeo Mori to represent them, the newspaper Mainichi reported.

    Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kotaro Nogami, who attended the meeting between Abe and Putin, explained that the two leaders “will closely coordinate their actions …

  • Russia denies it reached a deal with Japan on the return of Kuril islands

    The press secretary for the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov stated that a deal between Russia and Japan about the return of the Kuril Islands is not possible, and anything said to the contrary is speculation, Interfax news agency reports.

    “During the last few days, we have seen numerous arguments, political speculation that there is already some deal on the transfer of the islands and so on. It is not so,” he said.

    According to him, the Russian leader and the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō …

  • Japanese Prime Minister Abe promises Putin not to deploy US base on the Kuril Islands

    During his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Shinzo Abe, the head of the Japanese government, promised Putin not to deploy US military bases in the south of the Kuril Islands if Moscow agrees to hand over these territories to Tokyo, reported Asahi Shimbun with reference to high-level government sources.

    As reported in the newspaper, Abe's statement confirmed his determination to continue negotiations on the disputed territories.

    According to the newspaper, the actions of the …