Russia hopes that Japan will choose in favor of calm discussion on the possible conclusion of a formal peace treaty, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
At the end of World War II, the Soviet Union annexed the sparsely populated islands in the Kuril chain between Japan's northern island of Hokkaido and Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula; Japan still claims the islands. The feud over the islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan, has prevented the countries from signing a formal peace treaty.
On Saturday, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano inspected the disputed northern islands off Hokkaido from the air. After the inspection, Edano spoke out in favor of a dialogue with Russia, saying that "Japan's claims for the Northern Territories could have been much louder if only the people of Japan have realized how close to them the islands are ," local media reported.
"Russia hopes that Tokyo will overcome this ambiguity, which could only disorient the public opinion, and make a staunch final choice in favor of a calm, non-preconditioned, free from ostentatious PR campaigns and reciprocal historical references, discussion on the problem of the peace treaty," the Russia's Foreign Ministry Statement said.
In November 2010 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited the disputed Southern Kuril Islands. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan called the visit an "inexcusable rudeness," sparking an angry reaction from Moscow.
Medvedev ordered on February 9 the deployment of additional weapons on the islands, describing them as a "strategic region" of Russia.
MOSCOW, February 19 (RIA Novosti)
