Kremlin : Japan's support for sanctions against Russia is an obstacle to signing the peace treaty
The Press Secretary to the Russian President, Dmitry Peskov said that one of the obstacles to signing a peace treaty is that Japan actively supports the sanctions against Russia, Interfax reports.
“They support the sanctions and this is one of the questions and one of the situations that prevents us from signing the peace treaty,” Peskov noted during the program “Moscow.Kremlin.Putin” on channel Russia-1.
He recalled that last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed to sign the peace treaty with Japan without preconditions, and then to start solving the problem. However, according to Peskov, Japan did not understand that position. He noted that Japan believes that problems in relations should be solved together with signing the treaty or even before that.
“To simplify this situation, that is how it is. But it does not mean that we are at an impasse,” Peskov stressed.
Negotiations between President Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe took place on January 22 in Moscow. Russia’s official position today is to continue active consultations on the peace treaty based on the Declaration of 1956. The document presupposes that after signing the peace treaty, the USSR will turn over Shikotan Island and the Habomai islands to Japan while the Kunashir and Iturup islands remain with the USSR.
Japan is an active ally of the USA and earlier supported anti-Russian sanctions and did not recognize the Crimea's integration into Russia.