UPDATE - Return To 1956 Declaration Entails No Automatic Transfer Of Kurils To Japan - Kremlin

KHABAROVSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th November, 2018) The return of Russia and Japan to the 1956 joint declaration on negotiations on a peace treaty does not mean an automatic transfer of Kuril Islands to the Japanese side, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Sunday.

The leaders of Russia and Japan, Vladimir Putin and Shinzo Abe, had previously met in Singapore, reaching agreement on advancing negotiations on a peace treaty based on the 1956 Soviet-Japanese joint declaration, the only document recognized by both countries. The declaration stipulates, among other things, that Japan will regain control over Habomai islets and Shikotan in the Kuril Islands archipelago following the conclusion of the peace treaty with Russia. According to media reports, Abe promised Putin that if Habomai and Shikotan were transferred to Japan, US military bases would not be established there.

"It's difficult to negotiate without without some kind of base. Therefore, both leaders decided to take the 1956 declaration as the basis. Can we say that this means automatic transfer of some territories? Absolutely not. Actually, president Putin said that when answering journalists' questions," Peskov said.

He refuted rumors about some kind of already concluded separate deal about the transfer of the islands.

"It is not so, and it cannot be so," he assured.

According to Peskov, the parties can reach a compromise on the issue.

"But this is a compromise that will not conflict with the national interests of any of the parties," the spokesman stressed.

Russia will take into account Tokyo's allied commitments to the United States when negotiating a peace treaty with Japan, Peskov noted.

"Russia has been taught by a bitter experience in its relations with NATO. Recall [USSR President] Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, Germany, the US. Recall the creeping expansion of NATO, including military infrastructure, toward our borders, which continues to this day. Having such rich experience, Russia cannot help taking into account the allied relations of Japan with other countries, primarily with the United States," he said.

The peace treaty issue can be resolved, despite all the difficulties, which is confirmed by the experience of negotiations on territorial issues with China, Peskov noted.

"This issue can be resolved. Such complex issues may still be resolved, and this showed, for example, the experience of negotiations on territorial issues with China.

Putin repeatedly gives this example, he constantly appeals to negotiations that have been ongoing for several decades," he said.

In October 2004, the Supplementary Agreement on the eastern part of Russian-Chinese state border was signed in Beijing, which stipulated voluntary transfer of the island of Tarabarov and part of the Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island to China. In 2008, by signing a protocol-description defining the border line along the Amur River, the border problem between Russia and China was finally closed. Tarabarov Island was named Yinlong, "silver dragon" in Chinese, the western part of Bolshoy Ussuriysky is now called Heixiazi, "black bear."

The agreement with Japan is important for Russia, because it will open up broad opportunities for cooperation between the two countries, Kremlin spokesman stressed.

"Japan is an important partner, despite a consistent approach to intensifying relations with our country, but for Japan the absence of a peace treaty is a kind of restraint, and we cannot fully use the full potential of our bilateral relations," Peskov said.

He noted that Japan supported sanctions against Russia.

"This is another question that also cannot remain unresolved during the negotiations," he stressed.

The islands dispute has been souring bilateral relations for decades and serves as the main stumbling rock to signing a permanent peace treaty after the end of World War II. Both countries claim a group of four islands � Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai � referred to as the Southern Kurils by Russia and the Northern Territories by Japan.

In 1956, the two sides signed a Joint Declaration that provided for the restoration of bilateral relations after the war and stipulated that Japan and the Soviet Union would continue to make efforts toward signing a permanent peace treaty and toward settling the island dispute. The Soviet Union also pledged to consider handing over the islands of Habomai and Shikotan to Japan. Some progress was made when Putin visited Japan in December 2016, and Moscow and Tokyo agreed to work on joint projects on the islands in the fields of seafood cultivation, tourism, agriculture, energy and hard waste disposal and facilitate movement between the Kurils and Japan.