The Russian media highlighted the statements of Japan's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fumio Kishida, who reiterated that there are no changes in the plans to organize the trip of the Russian statesman in the remainder of the year.
During a recent meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly, the Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, informed that the foreign ministers of the two countries discussed the possible peace agreement.
He also underlined that the heads of diplomacy of Moscow and Tokyo set a meeting at the level of deputy ministers for October 8, an arrangement the vice-ministers Igor Morgulov and his Japanese host and counterpart Shinsuke Sugiyama are complying with right now.
The issue of the Southern Kuril Islands, the name given by Russia, and Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai ('northern territories', as per Japan), is the main obstacle to the full normalization of bilateral ties and the signing of the armistice, the lack of which keeps technically both sides at war.
Lavrov discussed in depth the issue with his Japanese counterpart in last September, and said during a joint press conference that President Putin and Prime Minister Abe indicated reconciling this document.
However, the Russian minister said immediately afterwards that the matter can be settled only after Tokyo admits the historical realities and the UN Charter, referring to the results of the Second World War, and the defeat of then-fascist Japan by the Soviet Union.
As a result of that conflict, the four islands of the Kuril archipelago, near Sakhalin, became sovereignty of the former Soviet Union, and after the dissolution of the USSR they passed on to Russia.
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PL-24/MNA