... lecturer, there were many speculations in the media that Moscow intends to follow Article 9 of the Declaration: to sign a peace treaty with Japan and to hand over Shikotan and Habomai islets. Nelidov urged to be skeptical about this kind of assumptions: Russia and Japan continue to adhere to divergent positions on the fate of the Kuril Islands, and the situation is unlikely to change in the near future.
The expert also noted that when analyzing Russian-Japanese territorial dispute, it is important to take into account the domestic political factor. According to the lecturer, Abe’s ...
... compromise on the islands in exchange for investment and a new level of relations. Tokyo, too, will find it difficult to do much to change the situation, even if it has the political will to do so. The exterritorial nature of the US sanctions will impede Russia-Japan cooperation regardless of what the dialogue on the Kuril Islands results in. It appears that the Russian diplomats are well aware of this prospect.
However, throughout history Japan has demonstrated a high level of adaptation to US sanctions, if they interfered with its interests. For example, Japan was ...
... peace treaty and resolving the territorial issue in the shortest possible time [
1
], while Russia stresses building a solid foundation for bilateral relations and an atmosphere of trust.
Vladimir Nelidov:
Regional Security in Northeast Asia and the Russia–Japan–U.S. Triangle
The two countries’ leaders
discussed
conducting joint economic activities on the four Kuril Islands in five priority areas and agreed that a third delegation of Japanese businesspersons and officials would visit the islands this year. In addition, as in 2017, there will be a special chartered flight for Japanese citizens wishing to visit ...
... focus of the political game for the Japanese political establishment is, and has always been, the territorial delineation of the Kuril Islands, which from the Japanese perspective is an issue of the Northern Territories lost to the Soviet Union in 1945 as a result of the Second World War. Even though it has not been stated officially (as was the case with the famous
eight-point plan of cooperation with Russia
put forward by Abe in 2016), there is a tacit understanding among Japanese politicians that any steps taken to resolve ...
How can joint economic activity on the Kuril Islands help resolve disputes between Japan and Russia and address the peace treaty issue?
With Russia-Japan relations being all over the news and Shinzo Abe visiting Moscow, future economic cooperation and economic activity on the Kuril Islands is on top of the agenda for both countries. The RIAC ...
... the first day of the visit, when asked whether the economic activity will be conducted according to Russian legislation, Aide to President Ushakov
responded
: “Of course, it is the territory of the Russian Federation.”
Without any doubt, not only Russia will benefit from Japanese capital being pushed actively to Kuril Islands and Sakhalin Oblast. According to Russia’s regional authorities, Japanese investors will receive all possible discounts
available
for those investing in Russia’s Far East. The more promising areas for cooperation include fishery, creating ...
... neglected in terms of social and economic development. And it is completely natural that a new programme of priority development has been adopted, something that in my opinion has nothing to do with international politics, much less relations between Russia and Japan. All the more so because we are talking about the Kuril Islands, rather than individual islands that Tokyo has laid claim to.
Dmitry Streltsov
Taken in the international context, however, I don’t think we should attach too much significance to Medvedev’s announcement against the background ...
... a joint Soviet-Japanese declaration with Nikita Khrushchev in 1956 which is still used as a guideline for the official position of the Russian Foreign Ministry, failed to justify.
In an outburst of anger, Hatoyama's successor Naoto Kan even recalled Japan’s ambassador from Russia in response to President Dmitry Medvedev’s trip to the Kuril Islands. However, the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident unwittingly brought relations out of the dead end, as Japan set a course for abandoning nuclear power and for replacing it with natural gas in particular, which made Russia a natural partner....
... received an invitation to visit Japan in June 2015 to discuss the ongoing Kuril Islands dispute. The historical dispute over the South Kuril Islands has been simmering for more than 50 years, since the end of WWII. Will 2015 see a breakthrough in the Russia–Japan relationship from the perspective of territorial ownership of the South Kuril Islands? Or will the focus be shifted to other aspects of the bilateral relations during the President’s visit? Prof.
Dmitry Streltsov
, DSc (Hist.), Head of the Department for Oriental Studies at the Moscow State Institute of International ...
... Russia.
The 24th Olympic Games opened in Sochi last Friday, and were also the reason given by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for his visit to Russia. On the other hand, that same day, 7 February, is known in Japan as Northern Territories Day, referring to Japan’s dispute with Russia over the South Kuril Islands. How would you comment on this rather unusual step by Prime Minister Abe? What reaction might it cause in Japan or in Russia? What are the prospects for Russo-Japanese relations?
I would like to note, first of all, that the meeting between ...
