TOKYO, September 20. /TASS/. Japan’s government is working out the possibility of organizing a meeting between Foreign Affairs Minister Taro Kono and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov during the UN General Assembly in New York on September 24-27, Japan’s NHK TV reported with reference to diplomatic sources on Thursday.
Kono is primarily keen to find out the true intentions of the Russian side following the proposal made by President Vladimir Putin to sign a peace treaty by the end of this year without any preconditions, the report said. The Japanese minister is also expected to unveil Tokyo’s position regarding the document, as well as referring to the territorial issue. If held, the meeting will also focus on joint economic activities on the South Kuril Islands.
During the Eastern Economic Forum’s plenary session on September 12, Putin suggested that a peace treaty be signed between Moscow and Tokyo without any preconditions before the end of this year. Commenting on the initiative, the Japanese Foreign Ministry told TASS that Tokyo would engage in talks with Russia on the peace treaty only after the territorial dispute is settled.
Since the mid-20th century, Russia and Japan have been holding consultations in order to clinch a peace treaty as a follow-up to World War II. The Kuril Islands issue remains the sticking point since after WWII the islands were handed over to the Soviet Union while Japan has laid claims to the four southern islands. In 1956, the two countries signed a common declaration on ending the state of war and restoring diplomatic and all other relations, however, a peace treaty has still not been reached. Moscow has stated many times that Russia’s sovereignty over the islands could not be questioned.
