Ukrainian Parliament Backs Japan's Claim To Russian Kuril Islands

The Ukrainian parliament voted on Friday to recognize Japan's claim to four of the Russian Kuril Islands, which stretch from northern Japan to the southern tip of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th October, 2022) The Ukrainian parliament voted on Friday to recognize Japan's claim to four of the Russian Kuril Islands, which stretch from northern Japan to the southern tip of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula.

"The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine declares its support for Japan's claim to its Northern Territories; recognizes that the aforementioned territories remain under the Russian occupation," it said in a declaration.

The parliament urged the international community to take measures that would formalize the status of the disputed southern part of the island chain separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the North Pacific.

Russia and Japan have been locked in a dispute over the four southernmost Kuril Islands since Russia took control of them in the waning days of World War II as Nazi-allied Imperial Japan suffered defeat.

The row has prevented them from signing a postwar peace treaty.

Russia argues that its sovereignty over the islands was recognized by Japan in their 1855 border deal. The Soviet Union offered Japan in 1956 to hand over two of the four contested islands once the peace pact was signed but Japan declined.

In March, Russia withdrew from talks with Japan on signing a post-World War II peace treaty, and halted visa-free travel for Japanese citizens to the southern Kuril Islands and joint economic activities in the disputed islands. The move was due to Tokyo's "unfriendly" steps over Ukrainian conflict, Moscow said.