Japan Condemn Russian Withdrawal from Peace Treaty Talks

Japan on Tuesday criticised Russia’s decision to withdraw from bilateral peace treaty talks and to suspend joint economic projects related to disputed islands.

Russia and Japan have still not formally ended World War Two hostilities because of the standoff over the islands located off Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido. They are known in Russia as the Kurils and in Japan as the Northern Territories.

Moscow’s decision to withdraw from the talks come in retaliation to sanctions imposed by Tokyo over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The islands were seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War Two, and Russia claims the acquisition was as fair as any international change of boundaries after the war. Japan has disputed this.

“This entire situation has been created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Russia’s response to push this onto Japan-Russia relations is extremely unfair and completely unacceptable,” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said.

Japan has imposed tranches of sanctions on 76 Russian individuals, seven banks, and 12 other bodies, including defense officials and the state owned arms exporter, Rosoboronexport.

BBC/Christopher Ojilere