Lavrov outraged by Abe's statements about US involvement in the peace treaty between Russian and Japan
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that statements by the Adviser to the Prime Minister of Japan about US interest in the negotiations in Moscow and Tokyo on a peace treaty were outrageous, Interfax reports.
“As for the statement by the Assistant Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, Prime Minister Abe, that the US should be interested in concluding an agreement between Russia and Japan, since this will, as he described it, strengthen the bloc [of countries] which would contain China: this is an outrageous statement,” said Lavrov after meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Taro Kono.
Earlier, Katsuyuki Kawai, Special Advisor for Foreign Affairs to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stated during his speech at the Hudson Institute in Washington that the United States should support Japan in the conclusion of a peace treaty with Russia to counter the threat from China. Lavrov also said that there are important disagreements between Moscow and Tokyo on the issue of a peace treaty, but the dialogue continues.
According to the Russian Foreign Minister, Japan must fully recognize the results of the Second World War, including Russia's sovereignty over all the Kuril Islands, to advance on the issue of a peace treaty.
Speaking about the talks with Kono, Lavrov emphasized that the parties identified a range of issues that must necessarily be taken up and clarified, and that an agreement to each of the issues must be reached through generally acceptable approaches.