MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia and Japan will hold peace treaty talks at the level of deputy foreign ministers in the second half of June in Tokyo, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said Friday.
"At the instruction of our leaders we must hold such a meeting in June. There are no dates yet, we are discussing this with our Japanese friends at the moment. I think it would be in the second half of the month in Tokyo," Morgulov said.
Tokyo's claims to Russia's Kunashiri, Etorofu, Shikotan islands and the Habomai group of islets dividing the Sea of Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean have prevented Japan and Russia from signing a peace treaty after WWII.
The Kurils belong to Moscow in accordance with the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty.
