The Japanese Embassy in Russia told Sputnik Wednesday it was not ready to comment on the recent suggestion by Russian President Vladimir Putin to sign a peace treaty between the two countries by the end of this year.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th September, 2018) The Japanese Embassy in Russia told Sputnik Wednesday it was not ready to comment on the recent suggestion by Russian President Vladimir Putin to sign a peace treaty between the two countries by the end of this year.
Earlier in the day, Putin proposed at a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) that a peace treaty with Japan should be signed by the end of the year without any preconditions. Speaking about the issue of the four disputed South Kuril Islands, Putin suggested including a provision on Moscow and Tokyo's commitment to resolve the issue within the text of the document.
"We are not ready to comment on it," a representative of the Japanese Embassy said.
The Japanese Foreign Ministry has earlier refrained from commenting on Putin's proposal as well.
The fact that Japan and Russia have never signed a permanent peace treaty after the end of World War II has long been a stumbling block in Russia-Japan relations. The main issue standing in the way of a treaty is an agreement concerning a group of four islands that both countries claim � Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai, collectively referred to as the Southern Kurils by Russia and the Northern Territories by Japan.
