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Isles dispute talks make no progress The foreign ministers of Russia and Japan said Jan. 14 that they made no progress in reconciling their rival claims to four islands, and admitted that it would take a long time to broker a solution. Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura arrived in Moscow on Jan. 13 to push for the return of all the Russian-held islands, which Moscow calls the Southern Kurils and Tokyo calls the Northern Territories. Prior to his visit, Russian officials from President Vladimir Putin on down had warned that Moscow could only agree to make good on a Soviet-era offer to return just two of the islands in exchange for Japan dropping further territorial claims. Machimura reaffirmed Jan. 14 that Japan wants all four islands back as a condition for signing a formal treaty to end the nations' World War II hostilities. "We have different positions on the issue. It can be said that at this moment they are opposite," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after the talks.
The Japan Times Weekly: Jan. 22, 2005 |
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