Russia plans more visits to disputed islands
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Chief of the Russian presidential administration said Russian leadership, including the president, will pay more visits to the disputed Southern Kuril islands in the coming days, the Kremlin said on Saturday.
When meeting with visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara, Sergei Naryshkin, chief of the Kremlin, said the president and other officials "will continue visiting Russia's regions, including the Kuril Islands."
"It is a part of the large-scale work in the interests of the socio-economic development of the territories, to boost the local living standards and ensure the security of the state," Naryshkin said.
Naryshkin also slashed Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan's remarks on Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit, saying the remarks meant that "further discussions of the territorial dispute are meaningless."
However, Naryshkin also said that Russia is still willing to discuss a peace treaty.
"At the same time, Russia is still willing to discuss the issue of the peace treaty without preconditions and unilateral references to history," he said.
Russia and Japan have long been at odds over the sovereignty of the four Pacific islands, which are called the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia. The disputes on the islands have blocked a peace treaty between the two countries since the end of World War II.
Russian President Medvedev visited Kunashiri Island in November, becoming the first Russian leader to travel to any of the disputed islands. Japanese Prime Minister Kan described the visit "an unallowable affront."
On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks with his Japanese counterpart Maehara, but the two countries remained divided on the disputed islands.
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