TOKYO (Sputnik) — According to the Kyodo news agency, the government of Japan will review its standpoint on the talks with Russia over the territorial dispute in order not to bring the negotiations to a deadlock.
Japan will agree to reach peace agreement with Russia if the islands are handed over to Tokyo and it will not insist on their territorial affiliation, the Kyodo news agency said.
Japan and Russia never signed a permanent peace treaty after World War II due to a disagreement over four islands which Russia calls the Southern Kurils and Japan the Northern Territories: Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai. The disputed islands, located in the Sea of Okhotsk, were claimed by Soviet forces at the end of the war.
The relations between the two states have recently been re-energized. In September, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took part in the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, during which he held three-hour talks with the Russian president. One of the outcomes of the meeting was the announcement of Putin's visit to Japan on December 15, which had been postponed from 2014.
Russian President Putin met with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on September 2-3, discussing the territorial dispute between the two countries.
In early October, Abe said that Japan would insist on its sovereignty claims over the four islands.
