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Russia will not cede islands Russian President Vladimir Putin's envoy suggested Aug. 2 that Moscow will not cede any territory in a group of Russian-held islands just off Hokkaido at the center of a decades-old dispute with Japan. The comments by Konstantin Pulikovsky were the latest in a string of similar statements by top Russian officials about the islands ahead of Putin's visit to Japan in the fall. The dispute over the islands has prevented Russia and Japan from signing a World War II peace treaty. But Pulikovsky said that relations with Japan are developing well despite the lack of a peace pact and dismissed talk about ceding any of the islands as moves on Japan's domestic political scene. "The problem of the so-called disputed territories is mostly a public relations platform for Japanese politicians, upon which they build their election campaigns," Pulikovsky said, according to his spokesman. Putin is to make an official visit to Tokyo in November, amid continuing pressure from Japan for Russia to cede sovereignty of the islands.
The Japan Times Weekly: Aug. 6, 2005 |
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