TOKYO - The Japanese government on Monday vowed, despite worsening ties, to continue seeking a solution with Russia on a longstanding territorial dispute over a group of islands off Hokkaido, as the countries mark 70 years since a joint declaration providing for a partial return.
The 1956 accord, under which Japan and the then-Soviet Union normalized diplomatic relations, stipulates the return following a peace treaty of two of the four disputed islands -- Shikotan and the Habomai islet group -- of what are called the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia.
"Even amid the difficult state of Japan-Russia relations, we will continue the necessary communication with the Russian side and work toward breaking the current deadlock," Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told a regular press conference in Tokyo.
The decades-old dispute over the islands, also involving Kunashiri and Etorofu, has kept the countries from signing a peace treaty after World War II. Tokyo claims the Soviet Union seized the islands illegally soon after Japan's surrender in August 1945, while Moscow argues it did so legitimately.
Japan and Russia agreed in 2018 to advance negotiations based on the joint declaration, but talks were suspended in 2022 after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. Prospects for resuming negotiations remain dim as relations have deteriorated following Japan's participation in sanctions against Moscow.
Recent events have worsened ties further, with Japan protesting after Russian President Vladimir Putin visited one of the islands for the first time in August.
