Lavrov Urges Japan To Acknowledge Russia's Sovereignty Over Kuril Islands

Japan should acknowledge the outcome of World War II and recognize Russia's authority over the Kuril Islands, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday

BISHKEK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th February, 2019) Japan should acknowledge the outcome of World War II and recognize Russia's authority over the Kuril Islands, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.

"We want our Japanese neighbors to confirm the obvious, specifically, the outcome of World War II, and to recognize and respect Russia's sovereignty, in particular, over the [Kuril] islands. Without this, we cannot advance the conversation," Lavrov said in a speech at the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University.

The Kuril Islands are a chain of islands stretching through the Okhotsk Sea between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula and Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido.

The four islands closest to Japan have been a point of contention between Russia and Japan since the end of WWII, when the two nations did not sign the peace treaty because each claimed sovereignty over the disputed territories.

Russia insists that the islands were transferred to the Soviet Union after the end of the Second World War and have been an integral part of Russia ever since. Japan maintains that the four island still belong to Japan under the 1855 Treaty of Shimoda which placed them under Japanese rule.

The long-standing territorial dispute has been a major setback for Russian-Japanese economic and political cooperation.