Japanese Ambassador to Russia Toyohisa Kozuki told Sputnik that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japan's new prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, had managed to make a good start in their dialogue, adding that he personally intends to work on the development of bilateral relations in all fields
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th November, 2020) Japanese Ambassador to Russia Toyohisa Kozuki told Sputnik that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japan's new prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, had managed to make a good start in their dialogue, adding that he personally intends to work on the development of bilateral relations in all fields.
On September 29, Putin held the first phone talks with the Japanese prime minister after the latter's appointment. The two leaders reaffirmed a commitment to the continued development of all aspects of bilateral cooperation in the interest of both countries and the Asia-Pacific region in general.
"It seems to me that the two leaders have managed to take a good start ... I, in turn, also intend to work on the development of our relations in all areas," Kozuki said.
The ambassador recalled that on October 16, the Russian and Japanese foreign ministers also held a phone conversation and agreed to continue discussing the development of bilateral relations in various spheres.
Suga, who was appointed Japanese prime minister in September, has repeatedly said that he was committed to the same policies on Russia that were pursued by his predecessor, Shinzo Abe, who had tried to resolve the territorial dispute with Russia and maintain a good and fruitful cooperation.
The Russian-Japanese relations have long been complicated by the fact that the two nations never signed a permanent peace treaty after the end of World War II. The deal was never reached because of a disagreement over a group of four islands � Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai � that are claimed by both countries. The Kuril Islands are a chain of islands stretching through the Okhotsk Sea between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula and Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido.
Russia insists that the islands were transferred to the Soviet Union after the end of the war and have been an integral part of Russia ever since. Japan maintains that the four islands still belong to Japan under the 1855 Treaty of Shimoda, which placed them under Japanese rule.
The long-standing territorial dispute has been a major setback for Russian-Japanese economic and political cooperation. Since Putin's visit to Japan in December 2016, relations between the two nations have been improving, with the two sides agreeing to develop joint projects on the disputed islands.
