Spokesman Clarifies Putin’s Peace Treaty Initiative for Japan

September 13, 2018

Vladivostok, Russia- A Russian presidential spokesman indicated Wednesday that President Vladimir Putin's peace treaty initiative for Japan is designed to put a territorial dispute between Tokyo and Moscow on the back burner.

The meaning of the initiative is clear, and a process of solving a territorial problem sometimes takes tens of years, ITAR-Tass quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.

Putin is determined to solve this problem and highly values Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's efforts to develop friendly relations based on economic cooperation, Peskov said.

The Russian president earlier on Wednesday proposed that Tokyo and Moscow conclude a peace treaty by the end of this year without any preconditions.

The territorial dispute involves Japanese claims to four Russian-held northwestern Pacific islands, which were seized by Soviet troops from Japan in the closing days of World War II.

The dispute prevents Tokyo and Moscow from concluding a peace treaty to formally end their World War II hostilities. Jiji Press