Russian, Japanese Deputy Foreign Ministers To Hold Peace Treaty Talks In Tokyo

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd April, 2019) Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov and his Japanese counterpart, Takeo Mori, will hold talks on the Russia-Japan peace treaty in Tokyo on Monday.

During the talks, the sides are also expected to focus on discussing the Russian-Japanese bilateral relations and the joint economic activity on the Kuril Islands.

In January, Russian and Japanese foreign ministers, Sergey Lavrov and Taro Kono, respectively, held the first round of talks aimed at signing a permanent peace treaty.

Russian-Japanese relations have long been complicated by the fact that the two nations never signed a permanent peace treaty after the end of World War II. The deal was never reached because of a disagreement over a group of four islands � Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai � that are claimed by both countries. They are collectively referred to as the Southern Kurils by Russia and the Northern Territories by Japan.