Japan intends to continue diplomatic contact with Russia despite strained ties, Japanese government spokesperson Minoru Kihara said Monday, as a territorial dispute continues to prevent the countries from signing a peace treaty.
Kihara said Japan would keep communicating with Russia and seek a way out of the impasse, Kyodo News reported. His remarks came 70 years after the signing of an Oct. 19, 1956, joint declaration that normalized relations.
The dispute concerns Iturup, Kunashiri, Shikotan and the Habomai islet group off Japan’s Hokkaido island. Japan calls them the Northern Territories; Russia calls them the Southern Kurils. Tokyo says the Soviet Union seized the islands unlawfully after Japan surrendered in World War II. Moscow maintains that the seizure was legitimate.
The dispute has kept the countries from signing a peace treaty since the war. Relations worsened after the war in Ukraine began in February 2022, and Japan joined Western allies in imposing sanctions on Russia.
