Asia (bbabo.net), - The Japanese government claims that the southern part of the Kuril Islands is “original Japanese territory”, which today is allegedly “under the illegal occupation of Russia.” This formulation is contained in the published annual report on diplomacy of the Japanese Foreign Ministry called “Blue Book”.

“The greatest concern in Japanese-Russian relations is the issue of the northern territories (as the southern part of the Kuril Islands is called in Japan). The Northern Territories are islands over which Japan has sovereignty and are Japan's ancestral territory, but they are currently illegally occupied by Russia,” the document states.

At the same time, the Japanese Foreign Ministry noted that Tokyo remains committed to “resolving the problem of the northern territories and concluding a peace treaty” with Moscow. The department also emphasizes in its document that Japan considers it a priority to resume humanitarian exchanges with the southern part of the Kuril Islands, especially visits to the graves of ancestors by former Japanese residents of these territories.

The Japanese authorities practically did not use the term “illegal occupation” in relation to the Kuril Islands during the tenure of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. There was no such phrase in official documents.

Since the middle of the last century, Moscow and Tokyo have been holding negotiations to develop a peace agreement following the Second World War. The main obstacle to this remains disagreements over the rights to the southern part of the Kuril Islands. After the end of the war, the entire archipelago was included in the Soviet Union, but Japan disputes the ownership of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and a group of small uninhabited islands. At the same time, the Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly emphasized that Russian sovereignty over these territories, which has the appropriate international legal framework, is beyond doubt.

After Tokyo imposed anti-Russian sanctions in connection with the situation in Ukraine, Russia stopped consultations with Japan on the issue of a peace treaty. Moscow also withdrew from negotiations with Tokyo on establishing joint economic activities in the southern Kuril Islands and blocked the extension of Japan's status as a partner of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization in sectoral dialogue.

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