In Moscow story dated October and headlined " Russia can build Siberian oil pipeline without Japanese investment - Yakovenko ", please read the fifth paragraph as follows: "Japan links the development of its economic relations with Russia and the signing of a peace treaty on the end of World War II to the solution of the Kurils Islands territorial problem."
The full article reads as following:
Russia can build Siberian oil pipeline without Japanese investment
MOSCOW, October 5 (RIA Novosti) - Russia does not need Japan's help to build the East Siberia-Pacific oil pipeline, Russia's deputy foreign minister told a respected daily Wednesday.
In an interview with Izvestia, Alexander Yakovenko said, "Russia is not making the building of the oil pipeline contingent on [its] relations with Japan. We have sufficient resources to build this oil pipeline independently, and should they prove insufficient, additional resources can always be attracted."
Responding to a question about a peace treaty with Japan, the deputy foreign minister said it would not be signed during Russian President Vladimir Putin's upcoming visit to Japan in November. Yakovenko said that "negotiations are in progress," but due to differences in positions, "they are not moving very quickly."
"A peace treaty, as we envision it, would be a more comprehensive document, designed to orient the relations between our states toward further advancement in all spheres," Yakovenko said.
Japan links the development of its economic relations with Russia and the signing of a peace treaty on the end of World War II to the solution of the Kurils Islands territorial problem.
The East Siberia-Pacific oil pipeline, with an estimated price tag of $11.5 billion, will have a total annual capacity of up to 80 million metric tons. It will be used to transport Russian oil from West and East Siberia to the Asia Pacific Rim.
In late April 2005, Russia and Japan signed a memorandum noting the importance of this project for both countries.
